Ferrellgas Partners Finance 10-K2021 FY Annual report

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FERRELLGAS PARTNERS, L.P.

FERRELLGAS PARTNERS FINANCE CORP.

FERRELLGAS, L.P.

FERRELLGAS FINANCE CORP.

For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2021

FORM 10-K ANNUAL REPORT

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PART I

References and Defined Terms

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K:

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Also, the following terms that are used throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K are defined in Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Recent Developments – Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cases”:

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Forward-looking Statements

Statements included in this report include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are identified as any statement that does not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements often use words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “projection,” “forecast,” “strategy,” “position,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” or the negative of those terms or other variations of them or comparable terminology. These statements often discuss plans, strategies, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future and are based upon the beliefs and assumptions of our management and on the information currently available to them. In particular, statements, express or implied, concerning our future operating results or financial position or our ability to generate sales, income or cash flow are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements. Many of the factors that will affect our future results are beyond our ability to control or predict. Some of the risk factors that may affect our business, financial condition or results of operations include:

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When considering any forward-looking statement, you should also keep in mind the risk factors set forth in “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” Any of these risks could impair our business, financial condition or results of operations. Any such impairment may affect our ability to make distributions to our unitholders or pay interest on the principal of any of our debt securities. In addition, the trading price of our securities could decline as a result of any such impairment.

Except for our ongoing obligations to disclose material information as required by federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or risk factors after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 1.    BUSINESS.

Overview

Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. is a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership formed in 1994 and is primarily engaged in the retail distribution of propane and related equipment sales.

Our Class A Units are traded on the OTC Pink Market under the symbol “FPGR”.

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Ferrellgas Partners is a holding entity that conducts no operations and has two direct subsidiaries, Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. and Ferrellgas, L.P. (the “operating partnership”). Our activities are primarily conducted through the operating partnership. Ferrellgas Partners and the Preferred Unitholders are the only limited partners of the operating partnership. Ferrellgas, Inc. is the sole general partner of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership and, excluding the economic interests attributable to the Class B Units and the Preferred Units, owns an approximate 1% general partner economic interest in each, and, therefore, an effective 2% general partner economic interest in the operating partnership. Excluding the economic interests attributable to the Preferred Units, Ferrellgas Partners owns an approximate 99% limited partner interest in the operating partnership. For information regarding the economic and other terms of the Class B Units and the Preferred Units, see Note K – Equity and Note J – Preferred units – to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.

Our general partner performs all management functions for us. The parent company of our general partner, Ferrell Companies, currently beneficially owns approximately 23.4% of our outstanding Class A Units. Ferrell Companies is owned 100% by an employee stock ownership trust.

The operating partnership was formed on April 22, 1994, and accounts for substantially all of our consolidated assets, sales and operating earnings, except for interest expense related to the Ferrellgas Partners Notes during the relevant historical periods.

Business

We are a leading distributor of propane and related equipment and supplies to customers in the United States. We believe that we are the second largest retail marketer of propane in the United States as measured by the volume of our retail sales in fiscal 2021 and a leading national provider of propane by portable tank exchange.

We serve residential, industrial/commercial, portable tank exchange, agricultural, wholesale and other customers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Our operations primarily include the distribution and sale of propane and related equipment and supplies with concentrations in the Midwest, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest regions of the United States. Sales from propane distribution are generated principally from transporting propane purchased from third parties to propane distribution locations and then to tanks on customers’ premises or to portable propane tanks delivered to nationwide and local retailers. Sales from portable tank exchanges, nationally branded under the name Blue Rhino, are generated primarily through a network of partnership-owned distribution outlets and to a lesser extent through independently-owned distribution outlets. Our market areas for our residential and agricultural customers are generally rural while our market areas for our industrial/commercial and portable tank exchange customers are generally urban.

In the residential and industrial/commercial markets, propane is primarily used for space heating, water heating, cooking and other propane fueled appliances. In the portable tank exchange market, propane is used primarily for outdoor cooking using gas grills. In the agricultural market, propane is primarily used for crop drying, space heating, irrigation and weed control. In addition, propane is used for a variety of industrial applications, including as an engine fuel burned in the internal combustion engines of vehicles and forklifts and as a heating or energy source in manufacturing and drying processes.

A substantial majority of our gross margin from propane and other gas liquids sales is derived from the distribution and sale of propane and related risk management activities. Our gross margin from the retail distribution of propane is primarily based on the cents-per-gallon difference between the sales price we charge our customers and our costs to purchase and deliver propane to our propane distribution locations.

The distribution of propane to residential customers generally involves large numbers of small volume deliveries. Our retail deliveries of propane are typically transported from our retail propane distribution locations to our customers by our fleet of bulk delivery trucks, which are generally fitted with tanks ranging in size from 2,600 to 3,500 gallons. Propane storage tanks located on our customers’ premises are then filled from these bulk delivery trucks. We also deliver propane to our industrial/commercial and portable tank exchange customers using our fleet of portable tank and portable tank exchange delivery trucks, truck tractors and portable tank exchange delivery trailers.

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We track “Propane sales volumes,” “Revenues – Propane and other gas liquids sales” and “Gross Margin – Propane and other gas liquids sales” by customer; however, we are not able to specifically allocate operating and other costs by customer in a manner that would determine their specific profitability with a high degree of accuracy. The wholesale propane price per gallon is subject to various market conditions, including inflation, and may fluctuate based on changes in demand, supply and other energy commodity prices, primarily crude oil and natural gas, as propane prices tend to correlate with the fluctuations of these underlying commodities.

As of July 31, 2021, approximately 69% of our residential customers utilize our equipment, while the remainder own their tanks. Our rental terms and the fire safety regulations in some states require rented bulk tanks to be filled only by the propane supplier owning the tank. The cost and inconvenience of switching bulk tanks helps minimize a customer’s tendency to switch suppliers of propane on the basis of minor variations in price, helping us minimize customer loss.

In addition, we lease tanks to some of our independent distributors involved with our delivery of propane for portable tank exchanges. Our owned and independent distributors provide portable tank exchange customers with a national delivery presence that is generally not available from most of our competitors.

In our past three fiscal years, our total annual propane sales volumes in gallons were:

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In fiscal 2021, no one customer accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated revenues.

We utilize marketing programs targeting both new and existing customers by emphasizing:

Some of our propane distribution locations also conduct the retail sale of propane appliances and related parts and fittings, as well as other retail propane related services and consumer products.

Our other activities in our propane operations and related equipment sales segment include the following:

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Effect of Weather and Seasonality

Weather conditions have a significant impact on demand for propane for heating purposes during the months of November through March (the “winter heating season”). Accordingly, the volume of propane used by our customers for this purpose is directly affected by the severity of the winter weather in the regions we serve and can vary substantially from year to year. In any given region, sustained warmer-than-normal temperatures in the winter heating season will tend to result in reduced propane usage, while sustained colder-than-normal temperatures in the winter heating season will tend to result in greater usage. Although there is a strong correlation between weather and customer usage, general economic conditions in the United States and the wholesale price of propane can also significantly impact this correlation. Additionally, there is a natural time lag between the onset of cold weather and increased sales to customers. If the United States were to experience a cooling trend, we could expect nationwide demand for propane for heating purposes to increase which could lead to greater sales, income and cash flow. Conversely, if the United States were to experience a continued warming trend, we could expect nationwide demand for propane for heating purposes to decrease which could lead to a reduction in our sales, income and cash flow as well as impact our ability to maintain compliance with our debt covenants.

The market for propane is seasonal because of increased demand during the winter heating season primarily for the purpose of providing heating in residential and commercial buildings. Consequently, sales and operating profits are concentrated in our second and third fiscal quarters, which are during the winter heating season. However, our propane by portable tank exchange business experiences higher volumes in the spring and summer, which include the majority of the grilling season. These volumes add to our operating profits during our first and fourth fiscal quarters due to those counter-seasonal business activities. These sales also provide us the ability to better utilize our seasonal resources at our propane distribution locations. Other factors affecting our results of operations include competitive conditions, volatility in energy commodity prices, demand for propane, timing of acquisitions and general economic conditions in the United States.

We use information on temperatures to understand how our results of operations are affected by temperatures that are warmer or colder than normal. We define “normal” temperatures based on a 10-year average of information published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Based on this information we calculate a ratio of actual heating degree days to normal heating degree days. Heating degree days are a general indicator of weather impacting propane usage.

We believe that our broad geographic distribution helps us reduce exposure to regional weather and economic patterns. During times of colder-than-normal winter weather, we have been able to take advantage of our large, efficient distribution network to avoid supply disruptions, thereby providing us a competitive advantage in the markets we serve.

Risk Management Activities – Commodity Price Risk

We employ risk management activities that attempt to mitigate price risks related to the purchase, storage, transport and sale of propane generally in the contract and spot markets from major domestic energy companies on a short-term basis. We attempt to mitigate these price risks through the use of financial derivative instruments and forward propane purchase and sales contracts. We enter into propane sales commitments with a portion of our customers that provide for a contracted price agreement for a specified period of time. These commitments can expose us to product price risk if not immediately hedged with an offsetting propane purchase commitment.

Our risk management strategy involves taking positions in the forward or financial markets that are equal and opposite to our positions in the physical products market in order to minimize the risk of financial loss from an adverse price change. This risk management strategy is successful when our gains or losses in the physical product markets are offset by our losses or gains in the forward or financial markets. Our propane related financial derivatives are designated as cash flow hedges.

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Our risk management activities may include the use of financial derivative instruments including, but not limited to, futures, swaps, and options to seek protection from adverse price movements and to minimize potential losses. We enter into these financial derivative instruments primarily with brokers who are clearing members with the Intercontinental Exchange or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and, to a lesser extent, directly with third parties in the over-the-counter market. We also enter into forward propane purchase and sales contracts with counterparties. These forward contracts qualify for the normal purchase normal sales exception within GAAP and are therefore not recorded on our financial statements until settled.

Through our supply procurement activities, we purchase propane primarily from energy companies. Supplies of propane from these sources have traditionally been readily available, although no assurance can be given that they will be readily available in the future. We may purchase and store inventories of propane to avoid delivery interruptions during the periods of increased demand and to take advantage of favorable commodity prices. As a result of our ability to buy large volumes of propane and utilize our national distribution system, we believe we are in a position to achieve product cost savings and avoid shortages during periods of tight supply to an extent not generally available to other propane distributors. During fiscal 2021, ten suppliers accounted for approximately 52% of our total propane purchases. Because there are numerous alternative suppliers available, we do not believe it is reasonably possible that this supplier concentration could cause a near-term severe impact on our ability to procure propane, though propane prices could be affected; however, if supplies were interrupted or difficulties in obtaining alternative transportation were to arise, the cost of procuring replacement supplies may materially increase. These transactions are accounted for at cost in “Cost of product sold – propane and other gas liquids sales” in our consolidated statement of operations.

A portion of our propane inventory is purchased under supply contracts that typically have a one-year term and a price that fluctuates based on spot market prices. In order to limit overall price risk, we will enter into fixed price over-the-counter propane forward and/or swap contracts that generally have terms of less than 36 months. We may also use options to hedge a portion of our forecasted purchases, which generally do not exceed 36 months in the future. Executing our price risk management strategy includes regularly issuing letters of credit and posting cash collateral.

We also incur risks related to the price and availability of propane during periods of much colder-than-normal weather, temporary supply shortages concentrated in certain geographic regions and commodity price distortions between geographic regions. We attempt to mitigate these risks through our transportation activities by utilizing our transport truck and railroad tank car fleet to distribute propane between supply or storage locations and propane distribution locations. The propane we sell to our customers is generally transported from gas processing plants and refineries, pipeline terminals and storage facilities to propane distribution locations or storage facilities by our leased railroad tank cars, our owned or leased highway transport trucks, common carrier, or owner-operated transport trucks.

Risk Management Activities – Transportation Fuel Price Risk

From time to time, we employ risk management activities that attempt to mitigate price risks related to the purchase of gasoline and diesel fuel for use in the transport of propane from supply or storage locations and from retail fueling stations. When employed, we attempt to mitigate these price risks through the use of financial derivative instruments.

When employed, our risk management strategy involves taking positions in the financial markets that are not more than the forecasted purchases of fuel for our internal use in both the supply and retail propane delivery fleet in order to minimize the risk of decreased earnings from an adverse price change. This risk management strategy locks in our purchase price and is successful when our gains or losses in the physical product markets are offset by our losses or gains in the financial markets. Our transport fuel financial derivatives are not designated as cash flow hedges.

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Industry

Natural gas liquids are derived from petroleum products and are sold in compressed or liquefied form. Propane, the predominant natural gas liquid, is typically extracted from natural gas or separated during crude oil refining. Although propane is gaseous at normal pressures, it is compressed into liquid form at relatively low pressures for storage and transportation. Propane is a clean-burning energy source, recognized for its transportability and ease of use relative to alternative forms of stand-alone energy sources.

Based upon industry publications propane accounts for approximately 4% of energy consumption in the United States, a level which has remained relatively constant for the past two decades. Propane competes primarily with natural gas, electricity and fuel oil as an energy source principally on the basis of price, availability and portability. Propane serves as an alternative to natural gas in rural and urban areas where natural gas is unavailable or portability of product is required. Propane is generally more expensive than natural gas on an equivalent British Thermal Unit (“BTU”) basis in locations served by natural gas, although propane is often sold in such areas as a standby fuel for use during peak demands and during interruption in natural gas service. The expansion of natural gas into traditional propane markets has historically been inhibited by the capital costs required to expand distribution and pipeline systems. Although the extension of natural gas pipelines tends to displace propane distribution in the neighborhoods affected, we believe that new opportunities for propane sales arise as more geographically remote neighborhoods are developed.

Propane has historically been less expensive to use than electricity for space heating, water heating and cooking and competes effectively with electricity in the parts of the country where propane is less expensive than electricity on an equivalent BTU basis. Although propane is similar to fuel oil in application, market demand and price, propane and fuel oil have generally developed their own distinct geographic markets. Because residential furnaces and appliances that burn propane will not operate on fuel oil, a conversion from one fuel to the other requires the installation of new equipment. Residential propane customers will have an incentive to switch to fuel oil only if fuel oil becomes significantly less expensive than propane. Conversely, we may be unable to expand our retail customer base in areas where fuel oil is widely used, particularly the northeast United States, unless propane becomes significantly less expensive than fuel oil. However, many industrial customers who use propane as a heating fuel have the capacity to switch to other fuels, such as fuel oil, on the basis of availability or minor variations in price. Sustained low propane prices have begun to change that dynamic, causing fuel oil customers to convert to propane.

Competition

In addition to competing with marketers of other fuels, we compete with other companies engaged in the propane distribution business. Competition within the propane distribution industry stems from two types of participants: the larger, multi-state marketers, including farmers’ cooperatives, and the smaller, local independent marketers, including rural electric cooperatives. Based on our propane sales volumes in fiscal 2021, we believe that we are the second largest retail marketer of propane in the United States and a leading national provider of propane by portable tank exchange.

Most of our retail propane distribution locations compete with three or more marketers or distributors, primarily on the basis of reliability of service and responsiveness to customer needs, safety and price. Each retail distribution outlet operates in its own competitive environment because propane marketers typically reside in close proximity to their customers to lower the cost of providing service.

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Business Strategy

Our business strategy includes the following:

Expand our market share through disciplined acquisitions and organic growth, as accretive opportunities become available

We expect to continue the expansion of our propane customer base through both the acquisition of other propane distributors and through organic growth. We intend to concentrate on propane acquisition activities in geographical areas within or adjacent to our existing operating areas, and on a selected basis in areas that broaden our geographic coverage. We also intend to focus on acquisitions that can be efficiently combined with our existing propane operations to provide an attractive return on investment after taking into account the economies of scale and cost savings we anticipate will result from those combinations.

Our goal is to improve the operations and profitability of our propane operations and related equipment sales segment by integrating best practices and leveraging our established national organization and technology platforms to help reduce costs and enhance customer service. We believe that our enhanced operational synergies, improved customer service and ability to better track the financial performance of operations provide us a distinct competitive advantage and better analysis as we consider future opportunities.

We believe that we are positioned to successfully compete for growth opportunities within and outside of our existing operating regions. Our efforts will focus on adding density to our existing customer base, providing propane and complementary services to national accounts and providing other product offerings to existing customer relationships. This continued expansion will give us new growth opportunities by leveraging the capabilities of our operating platforms.

Capitalize on our national presence and economies of scale

We believe our national presence of 800 propane distribution locations in the United States as of July 31, 2021 gives us advantages over our smaller competitors. These advantages include economies of scale in areas such as:

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We believe that our national presence allows us to be one of the few propane distributors that can competitively serve industrial/commercial and portable tank exchange customers on a nationwide basis, including the ability to serve such propane customers through leading home-improvement centers, mass merchants and hardware, grocery and convenience stores. In addition, we believe that our national presence provides us opportunities to make acquisitions of other propane distribution companies whose operations overlap with ours, providing economies of scale and significant cost savings in these markets.

We also believe that investments in technology similar to ours require both a large scale and a national presence, in order to generate sustainable operational savings to produce a sufficient return on investment. For these reasons, we believe our national presence and economies of scale provide us with an on-going competitive advantage.

Maximize operating efficiencies through utilization of our technology platform

We believe our significant investments in technology give us a competitive advantage to operate more efficiently and effectively at a lower cost compared to most of our competitors. We do not believe that many of our smaller competitors will be able to justify similar investments in the near term. Our technology advantage has resulted from significant investments made in our retail propane distribution operating platform together with our state-of-the-art tank exchange operating platform.

Our technology platform allows us to efficiently route and schedule our customer deliveries, customer administration and operational workflow for the retail sale and delivery of bulk propane. Our service centers are staffed to provide oversight and management to multiple distribution locations, referred to as service units. We operate a retail distribution network, including portable tank exchange operations, using a structure of 50 service centers and 800 service units as of July 31, 2021. The service unit locations utilize hand-held computers and cellular or satellite technology to communicate with management personnel who are typically located at the associated service center. We believe this structure and our technology platform allow us to more efficiently route and schedule customer deliveries and significantly reduce the need for daily on-site management.

The efficiencies gained from operating our technology platform allow us to consolidate our management teams at fewer locations, quickly adjust the sales prices to our customers and manage our personnel and vehicle costs more effectively to meet customer demand.

Our customer support capabilities allow us to accept emergency customer calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These combined capabilities provide us cost savings while improving customer service by reducing customer inconvenience associated with multiple, unnecessary deliveries.

Governmental Regulation - Environmental and Safety Matters

Our operations are subject to various federal, state and local environmental, health, safety and transportation laws and regulations governing the storage, distribution and transportation of propane. However, propane is not currently subject to any price or allocation regulation and has not been defined by any federal environmental law as an environmentally hazardous substance.

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In connection with all acquisitions of propane distribution businesses that involve the purchase of real property, we conduct a due diligence investigation to attempt to determine whether any substance other than propane has been sold from, stored on or otherwise come into contact with any such real property prior to its purchase. At a minimum, due diligence includes questioning the sellers, obtaining representations and warranties concerning the sellers’ compliance with environmental laws and visual inspections of the real property. Nevertheless, if hazardous substances are discovered on or under these properties, we may be responsible for removing or remediating the previously disposed substances. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, as amended, which we refer to as CERCLA or the “Superfund” law, and analogous state laws, generally impose liability, without regard to fault or legality of the original conduct, on classes of persons that are considered to be responsible for the release of a “hazardous substance” into the environment. These persons include the current owner or operator of a contaminated facility, a former owner or operator of the facility at the time of contamination, and those persons that disposed or arranged for the disposal of the hazardous substance at the facility. Under CERCLA and comparable state statutes, persons deemed “responsible parties” are subject to strict liability that, in some circumstances, may be joint and several for the costs of removing or remediating previously disposed wastes (including wastes disposed of or released by prior owners or operators) or property contamination (including groundwater contamination), for damage to natural resources and for the costs of certain health studies. In addition, it is not uncommon for neighboring landowners and other third parties to file claims for personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by the hazardous substances released into the environment. Therefore, governmental agencies or third parties may seek to hold us responsible under CERCLA and comparable state statutes for all or part of the costs to clean up sites at which such hazardous substances may have been released.

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With respect to the sale and distribution of propane, we are subject to regulations promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) under its Hazard Communication Standard (“HCS”), which requires preparation and maintenance of safety data sheets, hazard labeling on products, and other worker protections. In 2012, OSHA promulgated new hazard communications requirements designed to align U.S. HCS standards with those of other countries under a Globally Harmonized System. These hazard labeling and communication changes, which took effect in June 2015, required us and other propane manufacturers and distributors to revise and update our consumer and compliance materials.

With respect to the transportation of propane by truck, we are subject to regulations promulgated under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act. These regulations cover the transportation of flammable materials and are administered by the United States Department of Transportation (“DOT”). The National Fire Protection Association Pamphlet No. 58 establishes a national standard for the safe handling and storage of propane. Those rules and procedures have been adopted by us and serve as the industry standard by the states in which we operate.

We believe that we are in material compliance with all governmental regulations and industry standards applicable to environmental and safety matters.

Governmental Regulation - Climate Change Legislation

There continues to be concern, both nationally and internationally, about climate change and the contribution of greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions, most notably carbon dioxide, to global warming. Because propane is considered a clean alternative fuel under the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, we anticipate that this will provide us with a competitive advantage over other sources of energy, such as fuel oil and coal, to the extent new climate change regulations become effective. At the same time, increased regulation of GHG emissions, especially in the transportation sector, could impose significant additional costs on us, our suppliers and our customers. In recent years, there has been an increase in state initiatives aimed at regulating GHG emissions. For example, the California Environmental Protection Agency established a Cap & Trade program that requires certain covered entities, including propane distribution companies, to purchase allowances to compensate for the GHG emissions created by their business operations or obtain qualifying offset credits. The impact of new legislation and regulations will depend on a number of factors, including (i) which industry sectors would be impacted, (ii) the timing of required compliance, (iii) the overall GHG emissions cap level, (iv) the allocation of emission allowances to specific sources, and (v) the costs and opportunities associated with compliance.

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Employees

We have no employees and are managed by our general partner pursuant to our partnership agreement. At July 31, 2021, our general partner had 3,825 full-time employees.

Our general partner’s employees consisted of individuals in the following areas:

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Less than one percent of these employees are represented by an aggregate of four different local labor unions, which are all affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Our general partner has not experienced any significant work stoppages or other labor problems.

Trademarks and Service Marks

We market our goods and services under various trademarks and trade names, which we own or have a right to use. Those trademarks and trade names include marks or pending marks before the United States Patent and Trademark Office such as Ferrellgas, Ferrell North America, and Ferrellmeter. Our general partner has an option to purchase for a nominal value the trade names “Ferrellgas” and “Ferrell North America” and the trademark “Ferrellmeter” that it contributed to us during 1994, if it is removed as our general partner other than “for cause.” If our general partner ceases to serve as our general partner for any reason other than “for cause,” it will have the option to purchase our other trade names and trademarks from us for fair market value.

We believe that the Blue Rhino mark and Blue Rhino’s other trademarks and service marks are an important part of our consistent growth in the tank exchange category. Included in the registered and pending trademarks and service marks are the designations Blue Rhino®, Blue Rhino & Design®, Rhino Design®, Drop, Swap and Go®, Take-A-Tank®, and It’s Not Just Propane. It’s Blue Rhino®.

Businesses of Other Subsidiaries

Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. is a Delaware corporation formed in 1996 and is our wholly-owned subsidiary. Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. has nominal assets, has no employees other than officers and does not conduct any operations but has previously served and may in the future serve as a co-issuer and co-obligor for debt securities issued by Ferrellgas Partners. Institutional investors that might otherwise be limited in their ability to invest in debt securities of Ferrellgas Partners because it is a partnership may be able to invest in debt securities of Ferrellgas Partners because Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. acts as a co-issuer and co-obligor. Because of its structure and pursuant to the reduced disclosure format, a discussion of the results of operations, liquidity and capital resources of Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. is not presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See Note B – Contingencies and Commitments – to Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp.’s financial statements for a discussion of the debt securities with respect to which Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. has served as a co-issuer and co-obligor.

Ferrellgas Finance Corp. is a Delaware corporation formed in 2003 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the operating partnership. Ferrellgas Finance Corp. has nominal assets, has no employees other than officers and does not conduct any operations, but serves as a co-issuer and co-obligor for debt securities of the operating partnership. Institutional investors that might otherwise be limited in their ability to invest in debt securities of the operating partnership because it is a partnership may be able to invest in debt securities of the operating partnership because Ferrellgas Finance Corp. acts as a co-issuer and co-obligor. Because of its structure and pursuant to the reduced disclosure format, a discussion of the results of operations, liquidity and capital resources of Ferrellgas Finance Corp. is not presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See Note B – Contingencies and commitments – to Ferrellgas Finance Corp.’s financial statements for a discussion of the debt securities with respect to which Ferrellgas Finance Corp. has served and is serving as a co-issuer and co-obligor.

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Prior to the Effective Date we had agreements to transfer, on an ongoing basis, a portion of our trade accounts receivable through Ferrellgas Receivables, LLC, a consolidated and wholly-owned, qualifying special purpose subsidiary of the operating partnership that maintained an accounts receivable securitization facility. We retained servicing responsibilities for transferred accounts receivable but had no other continuing involvement with the transferred receivables. The accounts receivable securitization facility was terminated as of the Effective Date. See Note G – Accounts and notes receivable, net and accounts receivable securitization – to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.

Available Information

We file annual, quarterly and current reports and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). You may read and download our SEC filings over the Internet from several commercial document retrieval services as well as at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Our SEC filings are also available on our website at www.ferrellgas.com at no cost as soon as reasonably practicable after our electronic filing or furnishing thereof with the SEC. Please note that any Internet addresses provided in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be hyperlinks. No information found and/or provided at such Internet addresses is intended or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein.

ITEM 1A.   RISK FACTORS.

Risks Related to our Business and Industry

If we are unable to access the financing markets, including through our Credit Facility, it may adversely impact our business and liquidity.

Market conditions may impact our ability to access the financing markets on terms acceptable to us or at all. In addition, there are limitations on our ability to utilize fully all commitments under our Credit Facility. Availability under our Credit Facility is determined by reference to a borrowing base comprised of a combination of accounts receivable and propane inventory that fluctuates over time and the borrowing base may be further reduced by discretionary actions of the administrative agent under the Credit Facility. See “—Risks Inherent in an Investment in our Class A or Class B Units or our Debt Securities and Other Risks Related to Our Capital Structure and Financing Arrangements—The amount of borrowings permitted under our Credit Facility may fluctuate significantly due to our borrowing base calculation.” If we are unable to access the financing markets, including through our Credit Facility, we would be required to use cash on hand to fund operations and repay outstanding debt. There is no assurance that we will be able to generate sufficient cash to fund our operations and repay or refinance such debt. A failure to generate such cash would have a material adverse effect on our business if we were unable to access financing markets. Additionally, even if we are able to generate sufficient cash to refinance such debt, cash available to us for working capital and other corporate uses could be reduced. Market conditions may also impact our ability to utilize letters of credit or other financial instruments we use to conduct our business.

Weather conditions, including warm winters, dry or warm weather in the harvest season and poor weather in the grilling season, may reduce the demand for propane, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows, financial condition or liquidity.

Weather conditions have a significant impact on the demand for propane for heating, agricultural, and recreational grilling purposes. Many of our customers rely heavily on propane as a heating fuel. Accordingly, our sales volumes of propane are highest during the five-month winter-heating season of November through March and are directly affected by the temperatures during these months. During fiscal 2021, approximately 56% of our propane sales volume was attributable to sales during the winter-heating season. Actual weather conditions can vary substantially from year to year, which may significantly affect our financial performance or condition. Furthermore, variations in weather in one or more regions in which we operate can significantly affect our total propane sales volume and therefore our financial performance or condition. The agricultural demand for propane is also affected by weather, as dry or warm weather during the harvest season may reduce the demand for propane used in some crop drying applications.

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Sales from portable tank exchanges experience higher volumes in the spring and summer, which includes the majority of the grilling season. Sustained periods of poor weather, particularly in the grilling season, can negatively affect our portable tank exchange revenues. In addition, poor weather may reduce consumers’ propensity to purchase and use grills and other propane-fueled appliances thereby reducing demand for portable tank exchange.

Furthermore, increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (“GHG”), such as carbon dioxide, in the Earth’s atmosphere may produce climate changes that have significant physical effects, such as volatility in seasonal temperatures and increased frequency and severity of storms, floods and other climatic events. To the extent weather conditions are affected by climate change or demand is impacted by regulations associated with climate change, customers’ energy use could increase or decrease depending on the duration and magnitude of the changes, leading either to increased investment or decreased revenues.

Weather in the more highly concentrated geographic areas we serve for fiscal 2021 was approximately 1% warmer than normal, and 3% colder than fiscal 2020.

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Sudden and sharp increases in wholesale propane prices may not be completely passed on to our customers, especially those with which we have contracted pricing arrangements. These contracted pricing arrangements will adversely affect our profit margins if they are not immediately hedged with an offsetting propane purchase commitment and wholesale propane prices do increase.

Gross margin from the retail distribution of propane is primarily based on the cents-per-gallon difference between the sales price we charge our customers and our costs to purchase and deliver propane to our propane distribution locations. Because our profitability is sensitive to changes in wholesale supply costs, we will be adversely affected if we cannot pass on increases in the cost of propane to our customers.

We enter into propane sales commitments with a portion of our customers that provide for a contracted price agreement for a specified period of time. A certain percentage of that exposure is hedged with an offsetting propane purchase commitment.

The wholesale propane price per gallon is subject to various market conditions and may fluctuate based on changes in demand, supply and other energy commodity prices. Propane prices tend to partially correlate with crude oil and natural gas prices. We employ risk management activities that attempt to mitigate risks related to the purchasing, storing, transporting and selling of propane. However, sudden and sharp increases in wholesale propane prices cannot be passed on to customers with which we have contracted pricing arrangements. Therefore, we are exposed to the risk of increased wholesale propane prices and reduced profit margins on the percentage of our contractual commitments that are not immediately hedged with an offsetting propane purchase commitment.

Sudden and sharp decreases in wholesale propane prices may result in our customers’ not fulfilling their obligations under contracted pricing arrangements previously entered into with us. Any customer defaults under these higher sales price arrangements may adversely affect our profit margins.

We attempt to lock-in a gross margin per gallon on a percentage of our contracted sales commitments by hedging or entering into fixed price propane purchase contracts with our suppliers. If we were to experience sudden and sharp propane price decreases, our customers may not fulfill their obligations to purchase propane from us at their previously contracted price per gallon, and we may not be able to sell the related hedged or fixed price propane at a profitable sales price per gallon in the then-current pricing environment.

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We compete with other businesses to attract and retain qualified employees, and labor shortages and increased labor costs could adversely affect our business.

Our continued success depends on our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel in all areas of our business. We compete with other businesses to attract and retain qualified employees and a tight labor market may cause our labor costs to increase. The pandemic adds challenges in recruiting employees who may be hesitant to work in particular environments or without additional accommodations. A shortage of qualified employees may require us to enhance wage and benefits packages in order to compete effectively in the hiring and retention of employees, increase overtime or hire more expensive temporary employees. No assurance can be given that our labor costs will not increase, or that such increases can be recovered through increased prices charged to customers.

We are dependent on our principal suppliers, which increases the risks from an interruption in supply and transportation.

Through our supply procurement activities, we purchased approximately 52% of our propane from ten suppliers during fiscal 2021. During extended periods of colder-than-normal weather, these suppliers or other suppliers in one or more of the areas in which we operate could temporarily run out of propane, necessitating the transportation of propane by truck, rail car or other means from other areas. If supplies from these sources were interrupted, certain suppliers were to default or difficulties in alternative transportation were to arise, the cost of procuring replacement supplies and transporting those supplies from alternative locations might be materially higher and, at least on a short-term basis, our margins could be reduced.

Our failure or our counterparties’ failure to perform on obligations under commodity derivative and financial derivative contracts and increased costs associated with such contracts could materially affect our liquidity, cash flows and results of operations.

Volatility in the oil and gas commodities sector for an extended period of time or intense volatility in the near term could impair our or our counterparties’ ability to meet margin calls, which could cause us or our counterparties to default on commodity and financial derivative contracts. This could have a material adverse effect on our financial position or liquidity or on our ability to procure product at acceptable prices or at all and could increase our costs to procure product.

In addition, while most of the rules and regulations under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) have been finalized, some additional rules and regulations have yet to be adopted. It is possible that additional rules and regulations under the Dodd-Frank Act may increase our cost of using derivative instruments to hedge risks associated with our business or may reduce the availability of such instruments or the creditworthiness of derivatives counterparties available to us. While costs imposed directly on us due to regulatory requirements for derivatives under the Dodd-Frank Act, such as reporting, recordkeeping and electing the end-user exception from mandatory clearing, are relatively minor, costs imposed upon our counterparties may increase the cost of our doing business in the derivatives markets to the extent such costs are passed on to us.

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Hurricanes and other natural disasters could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Hurricanes and other natural disasters can potentially destroy numerous business structures and homes and, if occurring in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, could disrupt the supply chain for oil and gas products. Disruptions in supply could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow. Damage and higher prices caused by hurricanes and other natural disasters could also have an adverse effect on our financial condition due to the impact on the financial condition of our customers.

To the extent the frequency or magnitude of significant weather events and natural disasters increases, the resulting increase in disruptions also could have adverse impacts on our business on both the supply and demand side and therefore adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

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Epidemic diseases, such as COVID-19, or similar public health crises, illnesses or pandemics, could adversely affect our operations and financial condition.

COVID-19 continues to severely impact the economy of the United States and other countries around the world. COVID-19 continues to limit us and our employees, contractors, suppliers, customers and other business partners in conducting business activities. While certain governmental measures that were implemented to control the spread of the virus have begun to ease in certain jurisdictions, quarantines, travel restrictions, manufacturing restrictions, declarations of states of emergency, business restrictions and other significant restrictions remain in many areas in which we operate. Throughout the pendency of COVID-19 we have implemented initiatives to minimize the risk and impact of COVID-19 on our employees and customers such as using staggered start times for drivers, sanitizing company vehicles prior to the start of each shift, using hand sanitizer in vehicles and company offices, and other best practices set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Any of the foregoing events or other unforeseen consequences of public health epidemics may increase our operating expenses and reduce the efficiency of our operations and may have further adverse impacts on U.S. and global economic conditions, including a renewed slowdown in the U.S. economy, which could decrease demand for our products and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Ultimately, COVID-19 may also exacerbate other risks described in this “Risk factors” section, such as those relating to our high level of indebtedness, our liquidity and our ability to comply with the covenants contained in the agreements that govern our indebtedness.

The propane distribution business is highly competitive, and competition may negatively affect our sales volumes and therefore our results of operations, cash flows, financial condition and liquidity.

Our profitability is affected by the competition for customers among all of the participants in the propane distribution business. We compete with a number of large national and regional firms and several thousand small independent firms. Because of the relatively low barriers to entry into the propane market, there is the potential for small independent propane distributors, as well as other companies not previously engaged in propane distribution, to compete with us. Some rural electric cooperatives and fuel oil distributors have expanded their businesses to include propane distribution. As a result, we are subject to the risk of additional competition in the future. Some of our competitors may have greater financial resources or lower costs than we do. Should a competitor attempt to increase market share by reducing prices, our operating margins and customer base may be negatively impacted. Generally, warmer-than-normal weather and increasing wholesale fuel prices further intensify competition.

The propane distribution industry is a mature one, which may limit our growth.

The propane distribution industry is a mature one. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, approximately 13 billion gallons of propane comprised the U.S. propane market in 2020. We foresee no growth or a small decline in total national demand for propane in the near future. Year-to-year industry volumes are primarily impacted by fluctuations in temperatures and economic conditions. Our ability to grow our sales volumes within the propane distribution industry is primarily dependent upon our ability to acquire other propane distributors and integrate those acquisitions into our operations and upon the success of our marketing efforts to acquire new customers organically. If we are unable to compete effectively in the propane distribution business, we may lose existing customers or fail to acquire new customers.

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We may not be successful in making acquisitions, and any acquisitions we make may not result in achievement of our anticipated results. In either case, this failure would potentially limit our growth, limit our ability to compete and impair our results of operations and financial condition.

We have historically expanded our business through acquisitions. We regularly consider and evaluate opportunities to acquire propane distributors. We may choose to finance these acquisitions through internal cash flow, external borrowings or the issuance of additional Class A Units or other securities. We have substantial competition for acquisitions, and, although we believe there are numerous potential large and small acquisition candidates in our industry, there can be no assurance that:

The propane distribution business faces competition from other energy sources, which may reduce the existing demand for our propane.

Propane competes with other sources of energy, some of which can be less costly for equivalent energy value. We compete for customers against suppliers of electricity, natural gas and fuel oil. The convenience and efficiency of electricity makes it an attractive energy source for consumers and developers of new homes. Electricity is a major competitor of propane, but propane has historically enjoyed a competitive price advantage over electricity. Except for some industrial and commercial applications, propane is generally not competitive with natural gas in areas where natural gas pipelines already exist, because such pipelines generally make it possible for the delivered cost of natural gas to be less expensive than the bulk delivery of propane. Although the expansion of natural gas into traditional propane markets has historically been inhibited by the capital cost required to expand distribution and pipeline systems, the gradual expansion of the nation’s natural gas distribution systems has resulted in the availability of natural gas in areas that were previously dependent upon propane. As long as natural gas remains a less expensive energy source than propane, our business will lose customers in each region in which natural gas distribution systems are expanded. The gradual expansion of the nation’s natural gas distribution systems has resulted, and may continue to result, in the availability of natural gas in some areas that previously depended upon propane. Although propane is similar to fuel oil in some applications and market demand, propane and fuel oil compete to a lesser extent primarily because of the cost of converting from one to the other and due to the fact that both fuel oil and propane have generally developed their own distinct geographic markets.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) has determined that carbon dioxide and other GHGs are regulated pollutants under the Clean Air Act. As a result of this determination, in October 2015 the EPA published as a final rule the Clean Power Plan, which was anticipated to result in a shift away from coal-based sources of energy to natural gas and renewables. The rule has been the focus of legislative discussion in the U.S. Congress and litigation in federal court. In February 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the final rule, effectively suspending the duty to comply with the rule until certain legal challenges were resolved. In October 2017, the EPA proposed to repeal the Clean Power Plan. In June 2019, the EPA replaced the Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule. In January 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Affordable Clean Energy rule and remanded the question to the EPA to consider a new regulatory framework to replace the Affordable Clean Energy rule, thereby allowing the incoming administration to implement standards for emissions from the power sector. In the event the matter is not heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, it is not clear whether the EPA will reinstate the Clean Power Plan or undertake new rulemaking. While the ultimate outcome may increase demand for natural gas, other regulations governing drilling for natural gas may make natural gas extraction more expensive. Accordingly, the resulting impact on demand for propane and our business is uncertain and may change as implementation of any standards moves forward. We cannot predict the effect that the development of alternative energy sources might have on our financial position or results of operations.

Our operations, capital expenditures and financial results may be affected by regulatory changes and/or market responses to global climate change.

There continues to be concern, both nationally and internationally, about climate change and the contribution of GHG emissions, most notably carbon dioxide, to global warming. Because propane is considered a clean alternative fuel under the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, we anticipate that this will provide us with a competitive advantage over other sources of energy, such as fuel oil and coal, to the extent new climate change regulations become effective. At the same time, increased regulation of GHG emissions, especially in the transportation sector, could impose significant additional costs on us, our suppliers and our customers. In recent years, there has been an increase in state initiatives aimed at regulating GHG emissions. For example, the California Environmental Protection Agency established a Cap-and-Trade program that requires certain covered entities, including propane distribution companies, to purchase allowances to compensate for the GHG emissions created by their business operations or obtain qualifying offset credits. The impact of new legislation and regulations will depend on a number of factors, including (i) which industry sectors would be impacted, (ii) the timing of required compliance, (iii) the overall GHG emissions cap level, (iv) the allocation of emission allowances to specific sources, and (v) the costs and opportunities associated with compliance. At this time, we cannot predict the effect that climate change regulation may have on our business, financial condition or operations in the future.

Energy efficiency and technology advances may reduce demand for propane, and increases in propane prices may cause our residential customers to increase their conservation efforts.

The national trend toward increased conservation and technological advances, including installation of improved insulation and the development of more efficient furnaces and other heating devices, has reduced the demand for propane in our industry. We cannot predict the effect of future conservation measures or the effect that any technological advances in heating, conservation, energy generation or other devices might have on our operations. When the price of propane increases, some of our customers will tend to increase their conservation efforts and thereby decrease their consumption of propane.

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Economic and political conditions may harm the energy business disproportionately to other industries.

Deteriorating regional and global economic and political conditions, including U.S. sanctions on Iran oil exports and conflict, unrest and economic instability in oil producing countries and regions, may cause significant disruptions to commerce throughout the world. If those disruptions occur in areas of the world which are tied to the energy industry, such as the Middle East, it is most likely that our industry will be either affected first or affected to a greater extent than other industries. These conditions or disruptions may:

See also “—Epidemic diseases, such as COVID-19, or similar public health crises, illnesses or pandemics, could adversely affect our operations and financial condition.”

The revenues we receive from our portable tank exchange operations are concentrated with a limited number of retailers under non-exclusive arrangements that may be terminated at will.

A majority of the propane gallons sales that we generate from our delivery of propane by portable tank exchange are concentrated with a limited number of retailers. If one or more of these retailers were to materially reduce, terminate, or require price reductions or other adverse modifications or concessions in our selling terms, our results from our delivery of propane from portable tank exchanges may decline. For fiscal 2021, four retailers represented approximately 46% of our portable tank exchange net revenues. None of our significant retail accounts associated with portable tank exchanges are contractually bound to offer portable tank exchange service or products or to use us for delivery of propane by portable exchange. Additionally, we compete with a number of large national and regional firms that may be capable of providing services and products at a similar scale for our significant retail accounts. Consequently, any of those retailers could choose at any time to reduce materially or terminate its business with us, use one or more of our competitors for delivery of propane by portable tank exchange or related propane products or cease to provide portable tank exchanges services or products at all. Continued relations with a retailer depend upon various factors, including price, customer service, consumer demand and competition. In addition, most of our significant retailers have multiple vendor policies and may seek to accept a competitor’s delivery of propane by portable tank exchange, or accept products competitive with our propane related products, at new or existing locations of these significant retailers.

If the distribution locations that some of our national tank exchange customers rely upon for the delivery of propane do not perform up to the expectations of these customers, if we encounter difficulties in managing the operations of these distribution locations or if we or these distribution locations are not able to manage growth effectively, our relationships with our national tank exchange customers may be adversely impacted and our delivery of propane to our national tank exchange customers may decline.

We rely on company-owned and independently-owned distributors to deliver propane to some of our national tank exchange customers. Accordingly, our success depends on our ability to maintain and manage distributor relationships and operations and on the distributors’ ability to set up and adequately service accounts. National tank exchange customers impose demanding service requirements on us, and we could experience a loss of consumer or customer goodwill if our distributors do not adhere to our quality control and service guidelines or fail to ensure the timely delivery of an adequate supply of propane to our national customers. The poor performance of a distribution location for a national tank exchange customer could jeopardize our entire relationship with that national tank exchange customer and cause our delivery of propane to that particular customer to decline.

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Potential retail partners may not be able to obtain necessary permits or may be substantially delayed in obtaining necessary permits, which could adversely affect our ability to increase our delivery of propane by portable tank exchange to new retail locations.

Local ordinances, which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, generally require retailers to obtain permits to store and sell propane tanks. These ordinances influence retailers’ acceptance of propane by portable tank exchange, distribution methods, propane tank packaging and storage. The ability and time required to obtain permits varies by jurisdiction. Delays in obtaining permits have from time to time significantly delayed the installation of new retail locations. Some jurisdictions have refused to issue the necessary permits, which has prevented some installations. Some jurisdictions may also impose additional restrictions on our ability to market and our distributors’ ability to transport propane tanks or otherwise maintain its portable tank exchange services.

We are subject to operating and litigation risks, and related costs or liabilities may not be covered by insurance.

We are subject to all operating hazards and risks normally incidental to the handling, storing and delivering of combustible liquids such as propane. These operations face an inherent risk of exposure to general liability claims in the event that they result in injury or destruction of property. As a result, we have been, and are likely to be, a defendant in various legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. Our insurance policies do not cover all losses, costs or liabilities that we may experience, and insurance companies that currently insure companies in our industry or in the energy industry generally may cease to do so or substantially increase premiums. Although we maintain insurance policies with insurers in such amounts and with such coverages and deductibles as we believe are reasonable and prudent, we cannot guarantee that such insurance will be adequate to protect us from all material expenses related to potential future claims for personal injury and property damage or that such levels of insurance will be available in the future at economical prices.

A significant increase in motor fuel prices may adversely affect our profits.

Motor fuel is a significant operating expense for us in connection with the purchase and delivery of propane to our customers. The price and supply of motor fuel is unpredictable and fluctuates based on events we cannot control, such as geopolitical developments, supply and demand for oil, gas, and refined fuels, actions by oil and gas producers, actions by motor fuel refiners, conflict, unrest or economic instability in oil producing countries and regions, regional production patterns and weather conditions. We may not be able to pass any increases in motor fuel prices on to our customers. As a result, any increases in these prices may adversely affect our profitability and competitiveness.

Rail transportation of propane gas has inherent operating risks.

Our operations include transporting propane gas on rail cars. Such cargo is at risk of being damaged or lost because of events such as derailment, inclement weather, mechanical failures, grounding or collision, fire, explosion, environmental accidents, terrorism and political instability. Such occurrences could result in death or injury to persons, loss of property, environmental damage, delays in the delivery of cargo, loss of revenues, termination of contracts, governmental fines, penalties or restrictions on conducting business, higher insurance rates and damage to our reputation and customer relationships generally. Any of these circumstances or events could increase our costs or lower our revenues.

Our business would be adversely affected if service on the railroads we use is interrupted.

We do not own or operate the railroads on which the railcars we use are transported. Any disruptions in the operations of these railroads could adversely impact our ability to deliver product to our customers.

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If we are unable to protect our information technology systems against service interruption, misappropriation of data, or breaches of security resulting from cyber security attacks or other events, or we encounter other unforeseen difficulties in the operation of our information technology systems, our operations could be disrupted, our business and reputation may suffer, and our internal controls could be adversely affected.

In the ordinary course of business, we rely on information technology systems, including the Internet and third-party hosted services, to support a variety of business processes and activities and to store sensitive data, including (i) intellectual property, (ii) our proprietary business information and that of our suppliers and business partners, (iii) personally identifiable information of our customers and employees, and (iv) data with respect to invoicing and the collection of payments, accounting, procurement, and supply chain activities. In addition, we rely on our information technology systems to process financial information and results of operations for internal reporting purposes and to comply with financial reporting, legal, and tax requirements. Despite our security measures, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to employee error, malfeasance, sabotage, or other disruptions.

The efficient execution of our business is dependent upon the proper functioning of our internal systems, and we depend on our management information systems to process orders, manage inventory, manage accounts receivable collections, maintain distributor and customer information, maintain cost-efficient operations and assist in delivering propane on a timely basis. In addition, our staff of management information systems professionals relies heavily on the support of several key personnel and vendors. Any disruption in the operation of those management information systems, including a cyber-security breach or loss of employees knowledgeable about the operation of such systems, termination of our relationship with one or more of these key vendors or failure to continue to modify and upgrade such systems effectively as our business expands could negatively affect our business, financial condition or reputation.

We may incur significant costs in order to comply with privacy and data security laws and regulations, and any failure to comply with such laws and regulations could result in significant penalties or other liabilities or costs.

There are numerous laws and regulations regarding privacy and the storage, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure and protection of personal data, the scope of which is changing, subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent between jurisdictions. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which came into effect on January 1, 2020, and limits how we may collect and use personal data, in addition to imposing severe statutory damages and providing consumers with a private right of action for certain data breaches. Furthermore, California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) on November 3, 2020, which will amend and expand the CCPA, including providing consumers with additional rights with respect to their personal data, and establishes a regulatory agency dedicated to enforcing compliance. The CPRA will come into effect on January 1, 2023, applying to information collected by businesses on or after January 1, 2022. The effects of the CCPA and CPRA potentially are far-reaching, and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and incur substantial compliance-related costs and expenses, and it remains unclear how various provisions will be interpreted and enforced. These and other data privacy laws and their interpretations continue to develop and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Non-compliance with these laws could result in penalties or significant legal liability. Although we take reasonable efforts to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that we will not be subject to regulatory action, including fines, in the event of an incident. We or our third-party service providers could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in our or our third-party service providers’ business practices or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement their legislation or regulations in ways that negatively affect our or our third-party service providers’ business, results of operations or financial condition.

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The conduct of our business may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, which may cause us to incur unexpected costs and place restrictions on our operations.

We cannot be certain that the conduct of our business will not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. We may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of our business, including claims of alleged infringement of intellectual property rights of third parties by us or our customers in connection with the conduct of our business. Any such claims, whether or not meritorious, could result in costly litigation and divert the efforts of our management and personnel. Moreover, should we be found liable for infringement, we may be required to enter into licensing agreements (if available on acceptable terms or at all) or to pay damages and to cease making or selling certain products or services. Any of the foregoing could cause us to incur significant costs and negatively affect our business, financial condition, or reputation.

We may incur significant costs in order to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, and any failure to comply with such laws and regulations could result in significant penalties or other liabilities or costs.

Our operations are subject to stringent federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the discharge of materials into the environment or otherwise relating to protection of the environment or human health and safety. Compliance with current and future environmental laws and regulations may increase our overall cost of business, including our capital costs to construct, maintain and upgrade equipment and facilities. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in the assessment of significant administrative, civil and criminal penalties, the imposition of investigatory and remedial liabilities, and even the issuance of injunctions that may restrict or prohibit some or all of our operations. Environmental, health and safety laws and regulations are subject to change, resulting in potentially more stringent requirements, and we cannot provide any assurance that the cost of compliance with current and future laws and regulations or the consequences of any failure to comply will not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Risks Inherent in an Investment in our Class A or Class B Units or our Debt Securities and Other Risks Related to Our Capital Structure and Financing Arrangements

Our substantial indebtedness and other financial obligations could impair our financial condition and our ability to satisfy our obligations.

We have substantial indebtedness and other financial obligations. As of July 31, 2021, we had:

There are limitations on our ability to utilize fully all commitments under the Credit Facility. Availability under the Credit Facility is determined by reference to a borrowing base comprised of a combination of accounts receivable and propane inventory that fluctuates over time and the borrowing base may be further reduced by discretionary actions of the administrative agent under the Credit Facility. See “—The amount of borrowings permitted under our Credit Facility may fluctuate significantly due to our borrowing base calculation.”

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Our long-term debt obligations do not contain any sinking fund provisions, but as of July 31, 2021 they require the following aggregate principal payments, without premium, during the following fiscal years:

Subject to the restrictions in the agreements governing our indebtedness and other financial obligations, including the indentures governing the OpCo Notes (the “Indentures”), the Credit Agreement governing the Credit Facility and the OpCo LPA Amendment governing the Preferred Units, we may incur significant additional indebtedness and other financial obligations from time to time, which may be secured and/or structurally senior to the OpCo Notes, in order to finance working capital, capital expenditures, investments, acquisitions or for other purposes. If we do so, the risks related to our high level of indebtedness could intensify.

Our substantial indebtedness and other financial obligations could have important consequences to our security holders. For example, it could:

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The Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the OpCo LPA Amendment contain restrictive covenants that limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long term best interest. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of our debt and the mandatory redemption of the Preferred Units.

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We also have outstanding $700.0 million initial aggregate liquidation preference of Preferred Units. While the OpCo LPA Amendment permits the quarterly distributions on our Preferred Units to be paid in kind and added to the liquidation preference, failure to pay the quarterly distributions in cash imposes penalties and additional restrictions, including an increase in the distribution rate and a restriction on paying cash distributions to Ferrellgas Partners and other restricted payments. In addition to the quarterly distributions, we are required to make certain tax payments and additional payments, some of which are required to be paid in cash to the extent permitted by the Indentures and the Credit Agreement. Our Preferred Units impose additional burdens on us and intensify the risks related to our high level of indebtedness and other financial obligations. For more detail, see Note J – Preferred units to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.

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Despite our current indebtedness levels, we may still be able to incur substantially more debt. This could further exacerbate the risks associated with our leverage.

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We may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. The terms of the Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the OpCo LPA Amendment will not prohibit us from doing so if we meet applicable coverage or leverage tests or other exceptions apply. If we incur any additional senior indebtedness, the holders of that indebtedness will be entitled to share ratably (subject to any collateral arrangements) with holders of our other indebtedness in any proceeds distributed in connection with any insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding-up of us. If we add new indebtedness to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could intensify.

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We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

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Our ability to make scheduled payments on or refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, legislative, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. We may be unable to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.

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If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and could be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures or to dispose of material assets or operations, seek additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. We may not be able to effect any such alternative measures, if necessary, on commercially reasonable terms or at all and, even if successful, those alternative actions may not allow us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. Our ability to enter leasing transactions at favorable terms could also be impacted. The Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the OpCo LPA Amendment restrict our ability to dispose of assets and use the proceeds from those dispositions and may also restrict our ability to raise debt or equity capital to be used to repay other indebtedness when it becomes due. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or obtain proceeds in an amount sufficient to meet any debt service obligations then due. For more detail, see Note I – Debt and Note J – Preferred units to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.

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In addition, although our operations are currently conducted primarily through the operating partnership and not through its subsidiaries, in the future we could conduct a substantial portion of our operations through the operating partnership’s subsidiaries, certain of which may not be guarantors of our indebtedness. If that were to occur, repayment of our indebtedness could become dependent on the generation of cash flow by the operating partnership’s subsidiaries and their ability to make such cash available to the operating partnership, by dividend, debt repayment or otherwise. Unless those operating partnership subsidiaries are guarantors of our indebtedness, such subsidiaries do not and will not have any obligation to pay amounts due on our indebtedness or to make funds available for that purpose.

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The operating partnership’s subsidiaries may not be able to, or may not be permitted to, make distributions to enable the operating partnership to make payments in respect of its indebtedness. Each subsidiary is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, legal and contractual restrictions may limit the operating partnership’s ability to obtain cash from its subsidiaries. Although the Indentures and the Credit Agreement limit the ability of the operating partnership’s subsidiaries to incur consensual restrictions on their ability to pay dividends or make other intercompany payments to the operating partnership, these limitations are subject to qualifications and exceptions. In the event that the operating partnership does not receive distributions from its subsidiaries, the operating partnership may be unable to make required principal and interest payments on its indebtedness. In that situation, the operating partnership would also be unable to make cash distributions on its Preferred Units, which would prevent it from making cash distributions to Ferrellgas Partners for the purpose of paying cash distributions on its Class A and Class B Units.

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Our inability to generate sufficient cash flows to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all, would materially and adversely affect our financial position and results of operations. Further, there are limitations on our ability to utilize fully all commitments under the Credit Facility. Availability under the Credit Facility is determined by reference to a borrowing base comprised of a combination of accounts receivable and propane inventory that fluctuates over time and the borrowing base may be further reduced by discretionary actions of the administrative agent under the Credit Facility. See “—The amount of borrowings permitted under our Credit Facility may fluctuate significantly due to our borrowing base calculation.”

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The amount of borrowings permitted under our Credit Facility may fluctuate significantly due to our borrowing base calculation.

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Availability under the Credit Facility is determined by reference to a borrowing base, determined based on specified percentages of our eligible accounts receivable and eligible propane inventory, that may fluctuate significantly over time, and the borrowing base may be further reduced by discretionary actions of the administrative agent under the Credit Facility, including the imposition of reserves and availability blocks and the re-characterization of assets that might otherwise increase loan availability. The borrowing base is calculated on a monthly basis, or more frequently under certain circumstances. See Note I – Debt for more detail. As a result of the foregoing, our access to credit under the Credit Facility is potentially subject to significant fluctuation and, if such fluctuations result in a reduction in loan availability, such fluctuations could materially and adversely impair our liquidity, financial position and results of operations, including in respect of our ability to make interest payments on our debt obligations.

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A lowering or withdrawal of the ratings assigned to our debt securities by rating agencies may increase our future borrowing costs and reduce our access to capital.

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Our debt currently has a non-investment grade rating, and any rating assigned could be lowered or withdrawn entirely by a rating agency if, in that rating agency’s judgment, future circumstances relating to the basis of the rating, such as adverse changes, so warrant. Consequently, real or anticipated changes in our credit ratings will generally affect the market value of our debt securities. Credit ratings are not recommendations to purchase, hold or sell our debt securities. Additionally, credit ratings may not reflect the potential effect of risks relating to the structure or marketing of our debt securities.

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Any future lowering of our ratings likely would make it more difficult or more expensive for us to obtain additional debt financing. If any credit rating initially assigned to the OpCo Notes or other debt securities is subsequently lowered or withdrawn for any reason, you may not be able to resell such debt securities without a substantial discount.

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Restrictive covenants in the Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the agreements governing our other future indebtedness and other financial obligations may reduce our operating flexibility.

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The Indentures and the Credit Agreement contain, and any agreement that will govern debt incurred by us in the future may contain, various covenants that limit our ability to, among other things:

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These restrictions could limit our ability to:

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The Credit Agreement requires and agreements governing our future indebtedness and other financial obligations may also require, the maintenance of specified financial ratios and the satisfaction of other financial conditions, including a minimum interest coverage ratio, a maximum senior secured leverage ratio, and a maximum total net leverage ratio. Further, there are limitations on our ability to utilize fully all commitments under the Credit Facility. Availability under the Credit Facility is determined by reference to a borrowing base comprised of a combination of accounts receivable and propane inventory that fluctuates over time and the borrowing base may be further reduced by discretionary actions of the administrative agent under the Credit Facility. See “—The amount of borrowings permitted under our Credit Facility may fluctuate significantly due to our borrowing base calculation.”

In addition, the OpCo LPA Amendment governing the terms of the Preferred Units also restricts our ability to pay distributions and pay dividends or make distributions relating to our other capital stock, and future issuances of equity by Ferrellgas Partners or the operating partnership may contain additional restrictions. See “—We issued $700.0 million aggregate initial liquidation preference of Preferred Units, the terms of which restrict us from undertaking certain actions while such Preferred Units are outstanding.”

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Our ability to meet those financial ratios and conditions can be affected by unexpected downturns in business operations beyond our control, such as significantly warmer-than-normal weather, a volatile energy commodity cost environment, deterioration in credit quality of key business partners, or an economic downturn. Accordingly, we may be unable to meet these ratios and conditions. This failure could impair our operating capacity and cash flows and could restrict our ability to incur debt or to make cash distributions, even if sufficient funds were available. See “—Risks Related to Our Business and Strategy—If we are unable to access the financing markets, including through our Credit Facility, it may adversely impact our business and liquidity.”

In addition, the terms of any future indebtedness may be more restrictive.

Our breach of any of these covenants or failure to meet any of these ratios or conditions could result in a default under the terms of the relevant indebtedness or other financial obligations, which could cause such indebtedness or other financial obligations and, by reason of any cross-default provisions that may exist, any of our other existing or future debt to become immediately due and payable. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the holders of such debt or securities could initiate a bankruptcy proceeding or liquidation proceeding or, in the case of secured debt, proceed against our collateral in accordance with state law and the rights granted under the relevant agreements. If our lenders or noteholders accelerate the repayment of borrowings or other amounts owed, we may not have sufficient assets to repay our indebtedness or other financial obligations, including indebtedness under the OpCo Notes, the Credit Agreement and any future debt obligations. As of July 31, 2021, we had approximately $1,475.0 million principal amount of total indebtedness and we had no secured indebtedness under our Credit Facility (in each case, excluding $107.7 million of outstanding letters of credit under our Credit Facility); and we had commitments available to be borrowed under our Credit Facility of approximately $219.9 million (after giving effect to $107.7 million of outstanding letters of credit under the Credit Facility and subject to adjustment based on calculation of our borrowing base). See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—General.”

The Indentures and the Credit Agreement contain important exceptions to the covenants.

The Indentures and the Credit Agreement contain important exceptions to the covenants, including the covenants that restrict our ability to sell assets and make restricted payments. For example, the Indentures initially permit the operating partnership to make $60 million plus the amount of the operating partnership’s Available Cash from Operating Surplus (as defined in the Indentures) for the preceding fiscal quarter (so long as the operating partnership’s fixed coverage ratio is at least 1.75x) or $25 million (if the operating partnership’s fixed coverage ratio is below 1.75x) plus an additional $25 million, in each case, of restricted payments for any purpose, subject to compliance with applicable conditions, as well as to make additional restricted payments for specified purposes. Furthermore, we may utilize exceptions to sell assets and such asset sales may be on unfavorable terms.

Our variable interest rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Borrowings under our Credit Facility will be at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates were to increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness would increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, will correspondingly decrease. Assuming all loans are fully drawn and all commitments are available under the Credit Facility, each quarter point change in interest rates would result in a change of approximately $0.9 million in annual interest expense on our indebtedness under our Credit Facility.

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Our ability to meet financial ratio requirements under our Credit Facility may be affected by many factors, some of which are beyond our control, and any failure to meet such requirements could result in loss of our access to or termination of that facility.

The Credit Agreement governing our Credit Facility requires us to maintain a minimum interest coverage ratio, a maximum senior secured leverage ratio and a maximum total net leverage ratio. Our ability to satisfy financial ratio requirements under our Credit Facility may be affected by events beyond our control and a breach of any of these financial ratios could result in a default under our Credit Facility. See “—Restrictive covenants in the Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the agreements governing our other future indebtedness and other financial obligations may reduce our operating flexibility.”

The operating partnership issued $700.0 million aggregate initial liquidation preference of Preferred Units, the terms of which restrict us from undertaking certain actions while such Preferred Units are outstanding.

The operating partnership issued $700.0 million initial aggregate liquidation preference of Preferred Units. The Preferred Units are entitled to quarterly distributions in cash or payment in kind and are redeemable at the option of the operating partnership at any time, or at the option of the holders no earlier than ten years after the Effective Date, subject to the terms as described in more detail under Note J – Preferred units to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.

For so long as at least 20% of the Preferred Units initially issued (without any adjustment for new Preferred Units issued as payment in kind) remain outstanding, holders of the Preferred Units have the right, voting as a separate class, to designate one director onto the board of the general partner, which may not exceed nine directors.

For so long as at least $35.0 million aggregate liquidation preference of Preferred Units remain outstanding, the partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership limit the following, unless agreed by holders of at least 1/3 of the outstanding Preferred Units:

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Accordingly, the holders of the Preferred Units will have significant influence with respect to our management, business plans and policies. The interests of holders of the Preferred Units may conflict with our interests or the interests of our debtholders or securityholders.

Additionally, upon the occurrence of certain “change of control” transactions, the holders of the Preferred Units will have the option to require the redemption of all or a portion of the Preferred Units in cash in an amount equal to the redemption price; and such a “change of control” will also trigger a “change of control” under the Indentures.

In the event that no Class B Units are outstanding and the outstanding amount of Preferred Units is greater than $233.3 million after the tenth anniversary of the Effective Date, to the extent the operating partnership fails to redeem all the outstanding Preferred Units, holders of at least 1/3 of the outstanding Preferred Units will have the right to appoint a majority of the members of the board of directors of the general partner and initiate a sale of the operating partnership.

These restrictions may limit our flexibility to pursue strategic opportunities.

Disruptions in the capital and credit markets, including the availability and cost of debt and equity issuances for liquidity requirements, may adversely affect our ability to meet long-term commitments and our ability to hedge effectively, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

We rely on our ability to access the capital and credit markets at rates and on terms reasonable to us. A disruption in the capital and credit markets could impair our ability to access capital and credit markets at rates and terms acceptable to us or at all. This could limit our ability to fund working capital needs, engage in risk management activities, refinance long-term debt at or in advance of maturities or could force us to access capital and credit markets at rates or terms normally considered to be unreasonable or force us to take other aggressive actions, including continued suspension of our quarterly distributions, sales of assets or a restructuring on unfavorable terms.

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The operating partnership is required to distribute all of its available cash to its equity holders and is not required to accumulate cash for the purpose of meeting its future obligations to holders of its indebtedness, which may limit the cash available to service that indebtedness.

Subject to the limitations on restricted payments and other covenants contained in the Indentures, the Credit Agreement, the OpCo LPA Amendment and agreements governing future indebtedness and other financial obligations of the operating partnership, the partnership agreement of the operating partnership requires it to distribute all of its available cash each fiscal quarter to its partners and does not require it to accumulate cash for the purpose of meeting obligations to holders of any indebtedness or other financial obligations of the operating partnership. Available cash is generally all of our cash receipts, less cash disbursements and adjustments for net changes in reserves. As a result of these distribution requirements, the operating partnership may not accumulate significant amounts of cash. Depending on the timing and amount of our cash distributions and because we are not required to accumulate cash for the purpose of meeting obligations to holders of the operating partnership’s indebtedness, such distributions could significantly reduce the cash available to it in subsequent periods to make payments on any indebtedness of the operating partnership.

Our general partner has broad discretion to determine the amount of “available cash” for distribution to holders of our equity securities through the establishment and maintenance of cash reserves.

Subject to the restrictions on distributions in the Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the OpCo LPA Amendment as discussed above, our general partner determines the timing and amount of our distributions and has broad discretion in determining the amount of funds that will be recognized as “available cash.” Part of this discretion comes from the ability of our general partner to establish and make additions to our reserves. Decisions as to amounts to be placed in or released from reserves have a direct impact on the amount of available cash for distributions because increases and decreases in reserves are taken into account in computing available cash. Funds within or added to our reserves are not considered to be “available cash” and are therefore not required to be distributed. Each fiscal quarter, our general partner may, in its reasonable discretion, determine the amounts to be placed in or released from reserves, subject to restrictions on the purposes of the reserves. Reserves may be established, increased or decreased for any proper purpose, including, but not limited to, reserves:

The decision by our general partner to establish, increase or decrease our reserves may limit the amount of cash available for distribution to holders of our equity securities. Holders of our Class A and Class B Units will not receive distributions unless we are able to first satisfy our obligations and the establishment of any reserves.

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We may be unable to repurchase the OpCo Notes or repay or repurchase other debt or other securities upon a change of control.

Upon the occurrence of a “change of control” under the Indentures, we or a third party will be required to make a change of control offer to repurchase the OpCo Notes at 101% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest. Additionally, a change of control under the Credit Facility constitutes an event of default that permits the lenders to accelerate the maturity of borrowings under the Credit Agreement and terminate their commitments to lend thereunder. The source of funds for any purchase of the OpCo Notes and repayment of borrowings under the Credit Facility would be our available cash or cash generated from our subsidiaries’ operations or other sources, including borrowings, sales of assets or sales of equity. We may not have the financial resources to purchase the OpCo Notes in that circumstance, particularly if a change of control event triggers a similar repurchase requirement for, or results in the acceleration of, other indebtedness, including under our Credit Facility. In addition, the Preferred Units have similar change of control provisions which require us to offer to redeem the Preferred Units at a price equal to the then-current liquidation preference per unit, plus accrued and unpaid distributions. Future debt agreements and agreements governing other securities may also contain similar provisions. In addition, our future debt agreements may contain other restrictions on our ability to repurchase the OpCo Notes or other securities upon a change of control. These restrictions could prevent us from satisfying our obligations to purchase such securities unless we are able to refinance the indebtedness or obtain waivers or consents from the holders thereof. Our failure to pay the change of control purchase price or repay borrowings when due would allow the holders to declare such indebtedness be immediately due and payable.

In addition, certain important corporate events, such as leveraged recapitalizations, may not constitute a “change of control” that would require us to repurchase such securities or repay such borrowings, even though those corporate events could increase the level of our indebtedness or otherwise adversely affect our capital structure, credit ratings or the value of our indebtedness.

The exercise by the holders of our indebtedness under the OpCo Notes or the Credit Agreement of their right to require us to repurchase or repay such indebtedness upon a change of control could cause a default under the agreements governing our other indebtedness or other securities, including future agreements, even if the change of control itself does not, due to the financial effect of such repurchases on us. In the event a repurchase or repayment is required at a time when we are prohibited from purchasing or repaying such indebtedness, we could attempt to refinance the indebtedness that contains such prohibitions. If we do not obtain a consent or repay such indebtedness, our failure to purchase or repay such indebtedness would constitute an event of default which could, in turn, constitute a default under our other indebtedness. Finally, our ability to pay cash to the holders of such indebtedness upon a change of control may be limited by our then existing financial resources.

We may not be able to clearly establish when a sale of all or substantially all of the assets has occurred under New York law.

One of the events that may constitute a change of control is a sale of all or substantially all our assets. The meaning of “substantially all” varies according to the facts and circumstances of the subject transaction and has no clearly established meaning under New York law, which is the law that governs the Indentures and the Credit Agreement. This ambiguity as to when a sale of substantially all of our assets has occurred may result in uncertainty regarding whether a change of control has occurred and whether an obligation to offer to repurchase or repay under the Indentures or the Credit Agreement has been triggered.

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Our Class A Units are no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange and are instead traded on the OTC Pink Market. The OTC Pink Market has less liquidity than the NYSE and unitholders may face limited availability of market quotations for our Class A Units, reduced liquidity for the trading of our Class A Units and potentially lower trading prices for our Class A Units.

As previously announced in 2019, we were notified by the NYSE that we were not in compliance with its continued listing standards because the average closing price of our common units over a consecutive 30-day trading period was less than $1.00 per unit. After failing to regain compliance, we withdrew the listing of our common units from the NYSE, effective January 2020.

We may not be able to relist our Class A Units on the NYSE or another national securities exchange and we expect our Class A Units to be quoted on the OTC Pink Market for the foreseeable future. Unitholders may face limited availability of market quotations for our Class A Units, reduced liquidity for the trading of our Class A Units and potentially lower trading prices for our Class A Units. In addition, we could experience a decreased ability to issue additional securities and obtain additional financing in the future, and it could impair our ability to provide equity incentives to our employees. Additionally, the 1-for-20 reverse unit split that was effected on the Effective Date could adversely affect the liquidity of the market for our Class A Units. There can be no assurance that the trading market for our Class A Units will improve in the future or that any improvement will be sustained.

There may be no active trading market for our debt securities, which may limit a holder’s ability to sell our debt securities.

The OpCo Notes are not, and we do not expect any debt securities we may issue in the future to be, listed on any securities exchange quoted through any automated quotation system. An established market for our debt securities may not develop, or if one does develop, it may not be maintained. Although underwriters may advise us that they intend to make a market in our debt securities, they are not obligated to do so and may discontinue such market-making activity at any time without notice. In addition, market-making activity is subject to the limits imposed by the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). For these reasons, we cannot assure a debt holder that:

If a public market for our debt securities did develop, the debt securities could trade at prices that may be higher or lower than their principal amount or purchase price, depending on many factors:

Historically, the market for non-investment grade debt, such as the OpCo Notes, has been subject to disruptions that have caused substantial fluctuations in the prices of these securities.

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Subject to certain restrictions, Ferrellgas Partners may dilute existing interests of unitholders by selling additional limited partner interests. Ferrellgas Partners may also dilute existing Class A Units by converting Class B Units to Class A Units.

The partnership agreement of Ferrellgas Partners generally allows Ferrellgas Partners to issue additional limited partner interests and other equity securities, subject to consent by holders of the Requisite Class B Units (defined as (a) if the holder that initially holds a majority of the Class B Units (the “Initial Class B Majority Holder”) holds at least 50% of the Class B Units, holders of at least 50% of the outstanding Class B Units or (b) if the Initial Class B Majority Holder holds less than 50% of the Class B Units, holders of at least one-third of the outstanding Class B Units). When Ferrellgas Partners issues additional equity securities, a unitholder’s proportionate partnership interest in such class will decrease. Such an issuance could negatively affect the amount of cash distributed to unitholders and the market price of such units. The issuance of additional units will also diminish the relative voting strength of the previously outstanding class of units. In addition, Ferrellgas Partners may issue preferred or other securities that could have a preferred right to distributions or other priority economic terms, which could negatively affect the value of our outstanding units.

In addition, once the holders of the Class B Units have received aggregate distributions of $357.0 million, the Class B Units will be converted to Class A Units (at a conversion ratio specified in Ferrellgas Partners’ partnership agreement) (i) at the option of Ferrellgas Partners in the first five years after the Effective Date and (ii) automatically thereafter. Such conversion will dilute the Class A Units at an exceeding rate as each year passes and the conversion ratio increases. See Note K – Equity for more detail.

Persons or groups owning 20% or more of Ferrellgas Partners’ Class A Units cannot vote any of their Class A Units in excess of the 20% threshold. This limitation does not apply under certain circumstances and does not apply to Class A Units owned by Ferrell Companies, our general partner and its affiliates.

Any person or group that owns 20% or more of Ferrellgas Partners’ Class A Units cannot vote any of their Class A Units in excess of the 20% threshold, but this limitation on voting expires on the later of (a) five years after the Effective Date and (b) the conversion of the Class B Units to Class A Units. This provision may:

This limitation does not apply to our general partner and its affiliates or to the Class B Unitholders after conversion to Class A Units. Ferrell Companies, the parent of our general partner, beneficially owns all of the outstanding capital stock of our general partner in addition to approximately 23.4% of our Class A Units.

Our ability to make cash distributions to holders of Class A Units and Class B Units is dependent on the receipt by Ferrellgas Partners of cash distributions from the operating partnership, which are limited by our obligations under the Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the OpCo LPA Amendment and may be limited by a variety of other factors. Accordingly, we may be unable to make cash distributions to holders of Class A Units and Class B Units.

The ability of Ferrellgas Partners to make cash distributions to its Class A Unitholders and Class B Unitholders is dependent on the receipt by Ferrellgas Partners of cash distributions from the operating partnership. For so long as any Preferred Units remain outstanding, the amount of cash that otherwise would be available for distribution by the operating partnership to Ferrellgas Partners will be reduced by the amount of cash distributions and other payments made by the operating partnership in respect of the Preferred Units, including payments to redeem Preferred Units. Further, the Indentures, the Credit Agreement and the OpCo LPA Amendment contain covenants that limit the ability of the operating partnership to make distributions to Ferrellgas Partners and therefore effectively limit the ability of Ferrellgas Partners to make distributions to its Class A Unitholders and Class B Unitholders. See Note I – Debt and Note J – Preferred units for a discussion of these limitations.

Accordingly, we may be unable to make cash distributions to holders of Class A Units and Class B Units.

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If Ferrellgas Partners is permitted to make and makes distributions to its partners, while any Class B Units remain outstanding, Class B Unitholders collectively will receive at least approximately 85.7% of the aggregate amount of each such distribution and may receive up to 100% of any such distribution. Accordingly, while any Class B Units remain outstanding, Class A Unitholders may not receive any distributions and, in any case, will not receive collectively more than approximately 14.1% of any distribution.

Pursuant to the Amended Ferrellgas Partners LPA, while any Class B Units remain outstanding, any distributions by Ferrellgas Partners to its partners must be made such that the ratio of (i) the amount of distributions made to holders of Class B Units to (ii) the amount of distributions made to holders of Class A Units and the general partner is not less than 6:1. Accordingly, for so long as any Class B Units remain outstanding, Class B Unitholders collectively will receive at least approximately 85.7% of any cash distributions Ferrellgas Partner makes to its partners, and Class A Unitholders collectively will not receive more than approximately 14.1% of any such distribution (giving effect to the general partner’s pro rata share of any such distribution in addition to the Class B Unitholders’ share).

Further, the Amended Ferrellgas Partners LPA permits Ferrellgas Partners, in the general partner’s discretion, to make distributions to the Class B Unitholders in a greater proportion than the minimum 6:1 ratio, including paying 100% of any such distribution Class B Unitholders. The Class B Units will not be convertible into Class A Units until Class B Unitholders receive distributions in the aggregate amount of $357.0 million (which was the outstanding principal amount of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes), and the rate at which Class B Units will convert into Class A Units increases annually. Additionally, the price at which Ferrellgas Partners may redeem the Class B Units during the first five years after the Effective Date is based on the Class B Unitholders’ receipt of a specified internal rate of return in respect of their Class B Units. Accordingly, distributing cash to the Class B Unitholders in a greater proportion than the minimum 6:1 ratio could result in the Class B Units becoming convertible into Class A Units more quickly or at a lower conversion rate or reduce the redemption price for the Class B Units. (For additional discussion of the terms of the Class B Units, see Note K – Equity – in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.)

For these reasons, although the general partner has not made any decisions or adopted any policy with respect to the allocation of future distributions by Ferrellgas Partners to its partners, the general partner may determine that it is advisable to pay more than the minimum amount of any distribution, up to 100% of the amount of such distribution, to Class B Unitholders. In fact, on October 8, 2021, Ferrellgas Partners made a cash distribution in the aggregate amount of approximately $49.9 million entirely to the Class B Unitholders, without making any distribution to Class A Unitholders and the general partner. It is possible that Class A Unitholders will not receive any cash distributions prior to the time that all Class B Units are converted into Class A Units or redeemed or, if any distribution is made to the Class A Unitholders and the general partner, that the amount of such distribution to the Class A Unitholders will be less than the maximum amount of such distribution that the Class A Unitholders could receive, which, as noted above, is approximately 14.1% of the aggregate amount of the distribution made to all partners.

Holders of the Class B Units have the right to appoint an independent director, and certain consent from the holders of Class B Units is required for certain transactions, which may reduce our operating flexibility. The holders of the Class B Units and their affiliates may have conflicts with us.

The holders of Class B Units are permitted to designate one independent director to the Board of Directors of the general partner (the “Class B Independent Director”). The Class B Independent Director may not be affiliated with any prior holders of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes that entered into the Transaction Support Agreement and must be acceptable to Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership. The interests of holders of the Class B Units may conflict with our interests or the interests of other securityholders.

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The partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership provide certain covenants for the benefit of holders of the Class B Units, including, among others, that none of Ferrellgas Partners, the operating partnership or their respective subsidiaries may (i) incur indebtedness in excess of $75.0 million, other than certain refinancing transactions, (ii) issue or redeem outstanding equity interests (other than the Preferred Units) or (iii) engage in certain related party transactions, asset sales, investments, contributions or other transfers of assets, in each case above a specified threshold. Accordingly, the Class B Independent Director has significant influence with respect to our management, business plans and policies. These restrictions, which can be waived only upon consent by holders of the Requisite Class B Units, may limit our flexibility to pursue strategic opportunities.

Holders of the Class B Units will have the right to acquire the general partner interests in Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership upon a material breach of certain covenants in the partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership and the Class B Units will convert into Class A Units under certain circumstances.

Holders of the Class B Units will have the right to acquire the general partner interests in Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership, without the approval of the general partner, Ferrellgas Partners, the holders of the Class A Units or the operating partnership, upon a material breach of certain covenants in the partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership or if the Class B Units fail to convert into Class A Units within ten years after the Effective Date. Additionally, if the Class B Units are not called by Ferrellgas Partners (which is only permitted within five years of the issuance thereof), then upon receipt of aggregate distributions equal to $357 million the Class B Units will convert into Class A Units in accordance with the conversion factors described in the Ferrellgas Partners partnership agreement. Ferrellgas Partners will only be able to call the Class B Units if it receives sufficient distributions from the operating partnership, and the operating partnership will be limited in its ability to make distributions by its debt agreements and the terms of the Preferred Units. Any such acquisition of the general partner interests or conversion into Class A Units could have a material adverse effect on us and could substantially change our management and the resolution of conflicts of interest, as described above. Such acquisition also could result in a “change of control” under the Indentures, the Credit Agreement or the OpCo LPA Amendment governing the Preferred Units, which could result in an event of default under such instruments or require that we offer to repurchase our debt and other securities. See “—We may be unable to repurchase the OpCo Notes or repay or repurchase other debt or other securities upon a change of control.”

Risks Arising from Our Partnership Structure and Relationship with Our General Partner

Ferrellgas Partners is a holding entity and has no material operations or assets, other than its ownership stake in the operating partnership and Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. Accordingly, Ferrellgas Partners is dependent on distributions from the operating partnership to service its obligations and pay distributions to its unitholders. These distributions are not guaranteed and are subject to significant limitations.

Ferrellgas Partners is a holding entity for our subsidiaries, including the operating partnership. Ferrellgas Partners has no material operations and only limited assets. Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. is Ferrellgas Partners’ wholly-owned finance subsidiary, acts only as a co-obligor on its debt securities, if any, conducts no business and has nominal assets. Accordingly, Ferrellgas Partners is dependent on cash distributions from the operating partnership and its subsidiaries to service any obligations of Ferrellgas Partners and pay distributions to its unitholders. As described elsewhere in these risk factors, the ability of the operating partnership to make distributions to Ferrellgas Partners is subject to significant restrictions under the terms of the agreements governing the operating partnership’s indebtedness and the OpCo LPA Amendment governing the Preferred Units and may be affected by a variety of other factors.

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Unitholders have limited voting rights; our general partner manages and operates us, thereby generally precluding the participation of our unitholders in operational decisions.

Our general partner manages and operates us. Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, our unitholders generally have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business. Holders of our Class B Units and the operating partnership’s Preferred Units have certain additional voting rights focused on their respective distribution rights or preferences and their respective protective covenants and other rights under the partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership. Amendments to the agreement of limited partnership of Ferrellgas Partners may be proposed only by or with the consent of our general partner. Proposed amendments must generally be approved by holders of at least a majority of our outstanding Class A Units and, in certain cases, holders of our Class B Units and the operating partnership’s Preferred Units.

Class A Unitholders will have no right to elect our general partner, or the directors of our general partner on an annual or other continuing basis. Holders of our Class B Units are permitted to designate one independent director to the Board of Directors of our general partner in accordance with a voting agreement. See “—Holders of the Class B Units have the right to appoint an independent director, and certain consent from the holders of Class B Units is required for certain transactions, which may reduce our operating flexibility. The holders of the Class B Units and their affiliates may have conflicts with us.” In addition, holders of the Preferred Units have the right to designate one director to the Board of Directors of our general partner so long as at least 140,000 of the Preferred Units remain outstanding. Under certain circumstances, holders of the Preferred Units may have the right to appoint a majority of the Board of Directors of our general partner ten years after the Effective Date.

Our general partner may not be removed except pursuant to:

provided that holders of the Class B Units will have the right to remove the general partner under certain circumstances. See “—Holders of the Class B Units will have the right to acquire the general partner interests in Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership upon a material breach of certain covenants in the partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership and the Class B Units will convert into Class A Units under certain circumstances.”

Because Ferrell Companies is the parent of our general partner and beneficially owns 23.4% of our outstanding Class A Units, and James E. Ferrell, Chief Executive Officer and President of our general partner and Chairman of the Board of Directors of our general partner, indirectly owns 4.9% of our outstanding Class A Units, amendments to the agreement of limited partnership of Ferrellgas Partners or the removal of our general partner are unlikely if neither Ferrell Companies, nor Mr. Ferrell consents to such action, subject to the rights of holders of Class B Units and the Preferred Units.

Our general partner has a limited call right with respect to the limited partner interests of Ferrellgas Partners other than the Class B Units.

If at any time not more than 20% of the then-issued and outstanding limited partner interests of any class of Ferrellgas Partners other than the Class B Units are held by persons other than our general partner and its affiliates, our general partner has the right, which it may assign to any of its affiliates or to us, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the remaining limited partner interests of such class held by such unaffiliated persons at a price generally equal to the then-current market price of limited partner interests of such class. As a consequence, a unitholder may be required to sell its units at a time when the unitholder may not desire to sell them or at a price that is less than the price desired to be received upon such sale.

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Unitholders may not have limited liability in specified circumstances and may be liable for the return of distributions.

The limitations on the liability of holders of limited partner interests for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in some states. If it were determined that we had been conducting business in any state without compliance with the applicable limited partnership statute, or that the right, or the exercise of the right by the limited partners as a group (or a class of limited partners), to:

then the limited partners could be held liable in some circumstances for our obligations to the same extent as a general partner.

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In addition, under some circumstances a unitholder may be liable to us for the amount of a distribution for a period of three years from the date of the distribution. Unitholders will not be liable for assessments in addition to their initial capital investment in our Class A Units. Under Delaware law, we may not make a distribution to our unitholders if the distribution causes all our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interests and liabilities for which recourse is limited to specific property are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted. Delaware law provides that a limited partner who receives such a distribution and knew at the time of the distribution that the distribution violated the Delaware law will be liable to the limited partnership for the distribution amount for three years from the distribution date. Under Delaware law, an assignee that becomes a substituted limited partner of a limited partnership is liable for the obligations of the assignor to make contributions to the partnership. However, such an assignee is not obligated for liabilities unknown to that assignee at the time such assignee became a limited partner if the liabilities could not be determined from the partnership agreements.

Our general partner’s liability to us and our unitholders may be limited.

The partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership contain language limiting the liability of our general partner to us and to our unitholders. For example, those partnership agreements provide that:

Our partnership agreements eliminate the fiduciary duties that, under Delaware law, would otherwise apply to the general partner and replace them with a contractual good faith standard of care. The partnership agreements significantly limit the ability of unitholders to successfully challenge the actions of our general partner because our general partner's actions will be upheld as long as the action is reasonably believed by the general partner to be in, or not inconsistent with, the partnership’s best interests.

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Our general partner and its affiliates may have conflicts with us.

The directors and officers of our general partner have fiduciary duties to manage our general partner in a manner that is beneficial to the best interest of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership and not inconsistent with the best interest of those entities. The overall governance structure of the Ferrellgas entities is focused on Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership and, as such, the officers and directors of the general partner or the general partner’s parent entity should generally make decisions that are reasonably believed to be in, or not inconsistent with, the best interest of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership, which duties and obligations are set forth in the applicable partnership agreements. Notwithstanding, there may be situations in which our general partner’s duties to us may conflict with the duties of its officers and directors to our general partner and its stockholder.

Matters in which, and reasons that, such conflicts of interest may arise include:

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See “Conflicts of Interest” and “Fiduciary Responsibilities” below.

Under certain circumstances Ferrell Companies may transfer the ownership of our general partner, which could cause a change of our management and affect the decisions made by our general partner regarding resolutions of conflicts of interest.

Ferrell Companies, the owner of our general partner, may transfer the capital stock of our general partner without the consent of our Class A Unitholders. In such an instance, our general partner will remain bound by our partnership agreements. If, however, through share ownership or otherwise, persons not now affiliated with our general partner were to acquire its general partner interest in us or effective control of our general partner, our management and resolutions of conflicts of interest, such as those described above, could change substantially. A transfer of the ownership of our general partner also could result in a “change of control” under our debt instruments and the OpCo LPA Amendment governing our Preferred Units, which could result in an event of default under such debt instruments or OpCo LPA Amendment or require that we offer to repurchase our debt securities and Preferred Units.

Our general partner may voluntarily withdraw or sell its general partner interest.

Our general partner may withdraw as the general partner of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership without the approval of our Class A Unitholders. Our general partner may also sell its general partner interest in Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership without the approval of our Class A Unitholders. Any such withdrawal or sale could have a material adverse effect on us and could substantially change our management and the resolution of conflicts of interest, as described above. A withdrawal by our general partner or a sale of its general partner interest also could result in a “change of control” under our debt instruments or the OpCo LPA Amendment, which could result in an event of default under such instruments or require that we offer to repurchase our indebtedness and Preferred Units.

Our general partner has the ability to protect itself against dilution.

Whenever we issue equity securities (other than Class B Units or Preferred Units) to any person other than our general partner and its affiliates, our general partner has the right to purchase additional limited partner interests on the same terms. This allows our general partner to maintain its partnership interest in us. No other Class A Unitholder has a similar right. Therefore, only our general partner has the ability to protect itself against dilution caused by our issuance of certain additional equity securities.

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Tax Risks

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) could challenge our classification as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, which, if successful, would result in our being treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes. Additionally, changes in federal or state laws could subject us to entity-level taxation. Either of these events would substantially reduce the cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

The anticipated after-tax economic benefit of an investment in our units depends largely on our being treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. We believe that, under current law, we have been and will continue to be classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes; however, we have not requested, and do not plan to request, a ruling from the IRS with respect to our treatment as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. One of the requirements for such classification is that at least 90% of our gross income for each taxable year has been and will be “qualifying income” within the meaning of Section 7704 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”). Whether we will continue to be classified as a partnership depends in part on our ability to meet this qualifying income test in the future.

If we were classified as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, we would pay tax on our income at corporate rates, currently 21% at the federal level, and we would probably pay additional state income taxes as well. In addition, distributions would generally be taxable to the recipient as corporate dividends and no income, gains, losses or deductions would flow through to our unitholders. Because a tax would be imposed upon us at the entity level as a corporation, the cash available for distribution to our unitholders would be substantially reduced. Therefore, treatment of us as a corporation would result in a material reduction in the anticipated cash flow and after-tax return to our unitholders and thus would likely result in a substantial reduction in the value of our units.

A change in current law or a change in our business could cause us to be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes or otherwise subject us to entity-level taxation. The partnership agreement of Ferrellgas Partners provides that, if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects Ferrellgas Partners or the operating partnership to taxation as a corporation or otherwise subjects either of them to entity-level taxation for federal, state or local income tax purposes, certain provisions of the partnership agreement of Ferrellgas Partners will be subject to change. These changes would include a decrease in the minimum quarterly distribution and the target distribution levels to reflect the impact of such entity-level taxes.

The tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships could be subject to potential legislative, judicial or administrative changes and differing interpretations, possibly on a retroactive basis.

The present U.S. federal income tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships, including us, may be modified by administrative or judicial interpretation or legislative action at any time. Any modification to the U.S. federal income tax laws and interpretations thereof may or may not be applied retroactively and could make it more difficult or impossible to meet the exception for us to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes that is not taxable as a corporation, affect or cause us to change our business activities, affect the tax considerations of an investment in us and change the character or treatment of portions of our income.

We are unable to predict whether any such changes will occur. Any such changes could cause us to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes and thereby subject us to entity-level income taxes, which would cause a material reduction in our anticipated cash flows and adversely affect the value of our units.

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A successful IRS contest of the federal income tax positions we take may reduce the market value of our units and the costs of any contest will be borne by us and therefore indirectly by our unitholders and our general partner.

We have not requested, and do not plan to request, a ruling from the IRS with respect to our treatment as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. The IRS may adopt positions that differ from those expressed herein or from the positions we take. It may be necessary to resort to administrative or court proceedings in an effort to sustain some or all of the positions we take, and some or all of these positions ultimately may not be sustained. Any successful IRS contest may materially reduce the market value of our units and the prices at which our units trade. In addition, our costs of any contest with the IRS will be borne by us and therefore indirectly by our unitholders and our general partner.

Unitholders may be required to pay taxes on their share of our taxable income even if they do not receive cash distributions from us.

Unitholders may be required to pay federal income taxes and, in some cases, state and local income taxes on their share of our taxable income, including our taxable income associated with a disposition of property or cancellation of debt, whether or not they receive any cash distributions from us. Unless we are able to pay and actually pay cash distributions on our Class A Units, Class A Unitholders will not receive any cash from us to cover any such tax liabilities, and, if we do pay cash distributions in the future, such cash distributions may not be equal to unitholders’ share of our taxable income or even equal to the actual tax liability which results from that income.

We continue to pursue a strategy to normalize our capital structure. As part of this strategy, we may engage in transactions that could have significant adverse tax consequences to our unitholders. For example, we may sell some of our assets and use the proceeds to fund capital expenditures or a redemption or conversion of our Class B Units or Preferred Units rather than distributing the proceeds to our unitholders, and some or all of our unitholders may be allocated substantial taxable income and gain resulting from the sale without receiving a cash distribution. We may also engage in transactions to reduce our existing debt or debt service costs, such as debt exchanges, debt repurchases, or modifications of our existing debt, that could result in cancellation of indebtedness income, or other income, being allocated to our unitholders as taxable income. This may cause a unitholder to be allocated taxable income with respect to our units with no corresponding distribution of cash to fund the payment of the unitholder’s resulting tax liability.

The ultimate effect of any such allocations will depend on the unitholder’s individual tax position with respect to its units. Unitholders are encouraged to consult their tax advisors with respect to the consequences to them of this income.

Our unitholders may be subject to limitations on their ability to deduct interest expense incurred by us.

In general, our Class A Unitholders are entitled to a deduction for the interest we have paid or accrued on indebtedness properly allocable to our business during our taxable year. However, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Act”), for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, the deductibility of net interest expense is limited to the sum of our business interest income and 30% (or 50% for 2020, as amended by the CARES Act) of our “adjusted taxable income”. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2022, the Tax Act calculates adjusted taxable income using an EBITDA-based calculation. For tax years beginning January 1, 2022 and thereafter, the calculation of adjusted taxable income will not add back depreciation or amortization. Any business interest expense disallowed at the partnership level is then generally carried forward and may be deducted in a succeeding taxable year by a unitholder, in accordance with the unitholder’s applicable tax laws. These limitations might cause interest expense to be deducted by our unitholders in a later period than recognized in the GAAP financial statements.

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There are limits on the deductibility of losses.

In the case of unitholders subject to the passive loss rules (generally, individuals, closely held corporations and regulated investment companies), any losses generated by us will only be available to offset our future income and cannot be used to offset income from other activities, including passive activities or investments. Unused losses may be deducted when the unitholder disposes of its entire investment in us in a fully taxable transaction with an unrelated party. A unitholder’s share of our net passive income may be offset by unused losses carried over from prior years, but not by losses from other passive activities, including losses from other publicly-traded partnerships.

Tax gain or loss on the disposition of our Class A Units could be different than expected.

If a unitholder sells its Class A Units, the unitholder will recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and its tax basis in those Class A Units. Prior distributions in excess of the total net taxable income the unitholder was allocated for a Class A Unit, which decreased its tax basis in that Class A Unit, will, in effect, become taxable income to the unitholder if the Class A Unit is sold at a price greater than its tax basis in that Class A Unit, even if the price received is less than its original cost. A substantial portion of the amount realized, whether or not representing a gain, will likely be ordinary income to that unitholder. Should the IRS successfully contest certain positions we take, a selling unitholder could recognize more gain on the sale of units than would be the case under those positions, without the benefit of decreased taxable income in prior years. In addition, if a unitholder sells its units, the unitholder may incur a tax liability in excess of the amount of cash that unitholder receives from the sale.

Tax-exempt entities, regulated investment companies, and foreign persons face unique tax issues from owning Class A Units that may result in additional tax liability or reporting requirements for them.

An investment in Class A Units by tax-exempt entities, such as employee benefit plans, individual retirement accounts, regulated investment companies, generally known as mutual funds, and non-U.S. persons, raises issues unique to them. For example, virtually all of our income allocated to organizations exempt from federal income tax, including individual retirement accounts and other retirement plans, will be unrelated business taxable income and thus will be taxable to them. Net income from a “qualified publicly-traded partnership” is qualifying income for a regulated investment company, or mutual fund. However, no more than 25% of the value of a regulated investment company’s total assets may be invested in the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships. We expect to be treated as a qualified publicly-traded partnership. Distributions, if any, made to non-U.S. persons will be reduced by withholding taxes, at the highest effective tax rate applicable to individuals, and non-U.S. persons will be required to file federal income tax returns and generally pay tax on their share of our taxable income.

Certain information relating to a unitholder’s investment may be subject to special IRS reporting requirements.

Treasury regulations require taxpayers to report particular information on Form 8886 if they participate in a “reportable transaction.” Unitholders may be required to file this form with the IRS. A transaction may be a reportable transaction based upon any of several factors. The IRS may impose significant penalties on a unitholder for failure to comply with these disclosure requirements. Disclosure and information maintenance obligations are also imposed on “material advisors” that organize, manage or sell interests in reportable transactions, which may require us or our material advisors to maintain and disclose to the IRS certain information relating to unitholders.

An audit of us may result in an adjustment or an audit of a unitholder’s own tax return.

We may be audited by the IRS and tax adjustments could be made. The rights of a unitholder owning less than a 1% interest in us to participate in the income tax audit process are very limited. Further, any adjustments in our tax returns may lead to adjustments in unitholders’ tax returns and may lead to audits of unitholders’ tax returns and adjustments of items unrelated to us. A unitholder will bear the cost of any expenses incurred in connection with an examination of its personal tax return.

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Pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, if the IRS makes audit adjustments to our income tax returns for tax years beginning after 2017, it may collect any resulting taxes (including any applicable penalties and interest) directly from us. We will generally have the ability to shift any such tax liability to our general partner and our unitholders in accordance with their interests in us during the year under audit, but there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so under all circumstances. If we are required to make payments of taxes, penalties and interest resulting from audit adjustments, our cash available for distribution to our unitholders might be substantially reduced.

Reporting of partnership tax information is complicated and subject to audits; we cannot guarantee conformity to IRS requirements.

We will furnish each unitholder with a Schedule K-1 that sets forth that unitholder’s allocable share of income, gains, losses and deductions. In preparing these schedules, we will use various accounting and reporting conventions and adopt various depreciation and amortization methods. We cannot guarantee that these schedules will yield a result that conforms to statutory or regulatory requirements or to administrative pronouncements of the IRS. If any of the information on these schedules is successfully challenged by the IRS, the character and amount of items of income, gain, loss or deduction previously reported by unitholders might change, and unitholders might be required to adjust their tax liability for prior years and incur interest and penalties with respect to those adjustments.

Unitholders may lose tax benefits as a result of nonconforming depreciation conventions.

Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of Class A Units, uniformity of the economic and tax characteristics of our Class A Units to a purchaser of Class A Units must be maintained. To maintain uniformity and for other reasons, we have adopted certain depreciation and amortization conventions which we believe conform to Treasury Regulations under Section 743(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. A successful IRS challenge to those positions could reduce the amount of tax benefits available to our unitholders. A successful IRS challenge could also affect the timing of these tax benefits or the amount of gain from the sale of Class A Units and could have a negative impact on the value of our Class A Units or result in audit adjustments to a unitholder’s tax returns.

As a result of investing in our units, a unitholder will likely be subject to state and local taxes and return filing requirements in jurisdictions in which it is not domiciled.

In addition to federal income taxes, unitholders will likely be subject to other taxes, such as state and local taxes, unincorporated business taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that are imposed by the various jurisdictions in which we do business or own property. A unitholder will likely be required to file state and local income tax returns and pay state and local income taxes in some or all of the various jurisdictions in which we do business or own property and may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. We currently conduct business in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. It is each unitholder’s responsibility to file all required federal, state and local tax returns.

States may subject partnerships to entity-level taxation in the future, thereby decreasing the amount of cash available to us for distributions and, if we pay distributions on our Class A Units, potentially causing a decrease in our distribution levels, including a decrease in the minimum quarterly distribution.

Several states have enacted or are evaluating ways to subject partnerships to entity-level taxation through the imposition of state income, franchise or other forms of taxation. If additional states were to impose a tax upon us as an entity, the cash available for distribution to unitholders would be reduced. The partnership agreement of Ferrellgas Partners provides that if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects Ferrellgas Partners or the operating partnership to taxation as a corporation or otherwise subjects one or both partnerships to entity-level taxation for federal, state or local income tax purposes, provisions of the partnership agreement of Ferrellgas Partners will be subject to change. These changes would include a decrease in the minimum quarterly distribution and the target distribution levels to reflect the impact of those taxes.

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Unitholders may have negative tax consequences if we default on our debt or sell assets.

If we default on any of our debt, the holders will have the right to sue us for non-payment. That action could cause an investment loss and negative tax consequences for our unitholders through the realization of taxable income by unitholders without a corresponding cash distribution. Likewise, if we were to dispose of assets and realize a taxable gain while there is substantial debt outstanding and proceeds of the sale were applied to the debt, our unitholders could have increased taxable income without a corresponding cash distribution.

A unitholder whose Class A Units are the subject of a securities loan (e.g., a loan to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of Class A Units) may be deemed to have disposed of those Class A Units. If so, the unitholder would no longer be treated for tax purposes as a partner with respect to those Class A Units during the period of the loan and may recognize gain or loss from the disposition.

Because there are no specific rules governing the U.S. federal income tax consequences of loaning a partnership interest, a unitholder whose Class A Units are the subject of a securities loan may be deemed to have disposed of the loaned units. In that case, the unitholder may no longer be treated for tax purposes as a partner with respect to those Class A Units during the period of the loan and the unitholder may recognize gain or loss from such disposition. Moreover, during the period of the loan, any of our income, gain, loss or deduction with respect to those Class A Units may not be reportable by the unitholder and any cash distributions received by the unitholder as to those Class A Units could be fully taxable as ordinary income. Unitholders desiring to assure their status as partners and avoid the risk of gain recognition from a loan to a short seller should modify any applicable brokerage account agreements to prohibit their brokers from borrowing their Class A Units.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest could arise as a result of the relationships between us, on the one hand, and our general partner and its affiliates, on the other. The directors and officers of our general partner have fiduciary duties to manage our general partner in a manner beneficial to our general partner and its stockholder. At the same time, our general partner has a contractual good faith duty of care to manage us in a manner the general partner reasonably believes to be in, or not inconsistent with, our best interests. The contractual duties of our general partner to us and our unitholders, therefore, may conflict with the fiduciary duties of the directors and officers of our general partner to our general partner and its stockholder.

Matters in which, and reasons that, such conflicts of interest may arise include:

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Fiduciary Responsibilities

Unless otherwise provided for in a partnership agreement, Delaware law generally requires a general partner of a Delaware limited partnership to adhere to fiduciary duty standards under which it owes its limited partners the highest duties of good faith, fairness and loyalty and which generally prohibit the general partner from taking any action or engaging in any transaction as to which it has a conflict of interest. The partnership agreements of both Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership, as permitted by Delaware law, unconditionally eliminate the default fiduciary duty standards and require the general partner to adhere to the contractual good faith duty of care set forth in those agreements. Specifically, the general partner need only take actions that it, as general partner, reasonably believes to be in, or not inconsistent with, the best interest of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership. Thus, neither the general partner nor Ferrellgas Partners owes traditional fiduciary duties to the unitholders.

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The partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership expressly permit our general partner to resolve conflicts of interest between itself or its affiliates, on the one hand, and us or our unitholders, on the other, and to consider, in resolving such conflicts of interest, the interests of other parties in addition to the interests of our unitholders. In addition, the partnership agreement of Ferrellgas Partners provides that a purchaser of Class A Units is deemed to have consented to specified conflicts of interest and actions of our general partner and its affiliates that might otherwise be prohibited, including those described above, and to have agreed that such conflicts of interest and actions do not constitute a breach by our general partner of any duty stated or implied by law or equity. Our general partner will not be in breach of its obligations under the partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners or the operating partnership or its duties to us or our unitholders if the resolution of such conflict is fair and reasonable to us. Under the partnership agreements, any conflict of interest and any resolution thereof will conclusively be deemed fair and reasonable to us if it is (i) approved by the audit committee of our general partner, or (ii) on terms no less favorable to us than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated third parties or (iii) fair to us, taking into account the totality of the relationships between the parties involved (including other transactions that may be particularly favorable or advantageous to us). The latitude given in the partnership agreements to our general partner in resolving conflicts of interest may significantly limit the ability of a unitholder to challenge what might, in the absence of the partnership agreement provisions eliminating default fiduciary duties be a breach of fiduciary duty.

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The partnership agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership expressly limit the liability of our general partner by providing that our general partner, its affiliates and their respective officers and directors will not be liable for monetary damages to us, our unitholders or assignees thereof for errors of judgment or for any acts or omissions if our general partner and such other persons acted in good faith. In addition, we are required to indemnify our general partner, its affiliates and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents and trustees to the fullest extent permitted by law against liabilities, costs and expenses incurred by our general partner or such other persons if our general partner or such persons acted in good faith and in a manner it or they reasonably believed to be in, or (in the case of a person other than our general partner) not opposed to, the best interests of us and, with respect to any criminal proceedings, had no reasonable cause to believe the conduct was unlawful.

ITEM 1B.   UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

ITEM 2.      PROPERTIES.

We own or lease the following transportation equipment at July 31, 2021:

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The propane transport trailers have an average capacity of approximately 10,000 gallons. The bulk propane delivery trucks are generally fitted with tanks ranging in size from 2,600 to 3,500 gallons. Each railroad tank car has a capacity of approximately 30,000 gallons.

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We typically manage our propane distribution locations using a structure where one location, referred to as a service center, is staffed to provide oversight and management to multiple distribution locations, referred to as service units. At July 31, 2021, our propane distribution locations were comprised of 50 service centers and 800 service units. The service unit locations utilize hand-held computers and cellular or satellite technology to communicate with management typically located in the associated service center. We believe this structure together with our technology platform allows us to more efficiently route and schedule customer deliveries and significantly reduces the need for daily on-site management.

We also distributed propane for portable tank exchanges from 126 company-owned distributors and 6 independently-owned distributors at July 31, 2021. In addition, we had 11 company-owned portable tank exchange production facilities at July 31, 2021.

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We owned approximately 49.8 million gallons of propane storage capacity at our propane distribution locations at July 31, 2021. We owned our land and buildings in the local markets of approximately 60% of our operating locations and leased the remaining facilities on terms customary in the industry at July 31, 2021.

We owned approximately 0.8 million propane tanks at July 31, 2021, most of which are located on customer property and rented to those customers. We also owned approximately 4.1 million portable propane cylinders at July 31, 2021, most of which are used by us to deliver propane to our portable tank exchange customers and to deliver propane to our industrial/commercial customers.

At July 31, 2021, we leased approximately 57.3 million gallons of propane storage capacity located at underground storage facilities and pipelines at various locations around the United States.

At July 31, 2021, we leased 73,988 square feet of office space at separate locations that comprise our corporate headquarters in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

We believe that we have satisfactory title to or valid rights to use all of our material properties. Although some of those properties may be subject to liabilities and leases, liens for taxes not yet currently due and payable and immaterial encumbrances, easements and restrictions, we do not believe that any such burdens will materially interfere with the continued use of such properties in our business. We believe that we have obtained, or are in the process of obtaining, all required material approvals. These approvals include authorizations, orders, licenses, permits, franchises, consents of, registrations, qualifications and filings with, the various state and local governmental and regulatory authorities which relate to our ownership of properties or to our operations.

ITEM 3.     LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

Our operations are subject to all operating hazards and risks normally incidental to handling, storing, transporting and otherwise providing for use by consumers of combustible liquids such as propane and, prior to the sales of midstream operations in fiscal 2018, crude oil. As a result, at any given time, we can be threatened with or named as a defendant in various lawsuits arising in the ordinary course of business. Other than as discussed below, we are not a party to any legal proceedings other than various claims and lawsuits arising in the ordinary course of business. It is not possible to determine the ultimate disposition of these matters; however, management is of the opinion that there are no known claims or contingent claims that are reasonably expected to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Tank fill level litigation

We have been named as a defendant, along with a competitor, in putative class action lawsuits filed in multiple jurisdictions. The lawsuits, which were consolidated in the Western District of Missouri on October 16, 2014, allege that we and a competitor coordinated in 2008 to reduce the fill level in barbeque cylinders and combined to persuade a common customer to accept that fill reduction, resulting in increased cylinder costs to direct customers and end-user customers in violation of federal and certain state antitrust laws.

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The lawsuits seek treble damages, attorneys’ fees, injunctive relief and costs on behalf of the putative class. These lawsuits have been coordinated for pretrial purposes by the multidistrict litigation panel. The Federal Court for the Western District of Missouri initially dismissed all claims brought by direct and indirect customers other than state law claims of indirect customers under Wisconsin, Maine and Vermont law. The direct customer plaintiffs filed an appeal, which resulted in a reversal of the district court’s dismissal. We filed a petition for a writ of certiorari which was denied. An appeal by the indirect customer plaintiffs resulted in the court of appeals affirming the dismissal of the federal claims and remanding the case to the district court to decide whether to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims. Thereafter, in August 2019, we reached a settlement with the direct customers, pursuant to which we agreed to pay a total of $6.25 million to resolve all claims asserted by the putative direct purchaser class.  

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With respect to the indirect customers, the district court exercised supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims, but then granted in part our pleadings-based motion and dismissed 11 of the 24 remaining state law claims.  As a result, there were 13 remaining state law claims brought by a putative class of indirect customers. 

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On September 23, 2021, the court held an oral argument on the indirect purchaser plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. Thereafter, the court denied the indirect purchaser plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, and a final order on the motion is being prepared. At this point the only remaining claims are the 13 named plaintiffs’ individual state claims, which has the effect of substantially reducing our potential liability. We believe we have strong defenses and intend to vigorously defend ourselves against these remaining individual claims.  We do not believe loss is probable or reasonably estimable at this time.

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Eddystone litigation

We and Bridger Logistics, LLC (“Bridger”), have been named, along with two former officers (“Rios and Gamboa”), in a lawsuit filed by Eddystone Rail Company ("Eddystone") on February 2, 2017 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (the "EDPA Lawsuit"). Eddystone indicated that it has prevailed in or settled an arbitration against Jamex Transfer Services (“JTS”), previously named Bridger Transfer Services, a former subsidiary of Bridger. The arbitration involved a claim against JTS for money due for deficiency payments under a contract for the use of an Eddystone facility used to offload crude from rail onto barges. Eddystone alleges that we transferred assets out of JTS prior to the sale of the membership interest in JTS to Jamex Transfer Holdings, and that those transfers should be avoided so that the assets can be used to satisfy the amount owed by JTS to Eddystone as a result of the arbitration. Eddystone also alleges that JTS was an “alter ego” of us and Bridger and that we and Bridger breached both an implicit contract as well as fiduciary duties allegedly owed to Eddystone as a creditor of JTS. We believe that we and Bridger have valid defenses to these claims and to Eddystone’s primary claim against JTS for breach of contract. If Eddystone ultimately prevails, however, we believe that the amount of damages awarded could be material to us.  We intend to vigorously defend this claim.

On August 24, 2017, we filed a third-party complaint against JTS, Jamex Transfer Holdings, and other related persons and entities (the "Third-Party Defendants"), asserting claims for breach of contract, indemnification of any losses in the EDPA Lawsuit, tortious interference with contract, and contribution. On June 25, 2018, we entered into an agreement with the Third-Party Defendants which, among other things, resulted in a dismissal of the claims against the Third-Party Defendants from the lawsuit.

Virtually all discovery has been completed and the lawsuit is proceeding toward the summary judgment stage. As such, management does not currently believe a loss is probable or reasonably estimable at this time. However, we may enter into settlement discussions at any time. 

ITEM 4.      MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5.       MARKET FOR REGISTRANTS’ COMMON EQUITY, RELATED UNITHOLDER AND STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Market Information for Ferrellgas Partners

Our Class A Units represent limited partner interests in Ferrellgas Partners and are listed and traded on the OTC Pink Market under the symbol “FGPR”. Any over-the-counter market quotations reflect inter-dealer prices, without retail mark-up, mark-down or commission, and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.

As of August 31, 2021, we had 363 Class A Unitholders of record. That Class A Unitholder figure does not include a substantially greater number of holders who are “street name” or beneficial holders and whose units are held of record by banks, brokers, and other institutions.

Distributions by Ferrellgas Partners

We have not paid any cash distributions to holders of Class A Units (formerly our “common units” prior to the Effective Date) since the distribution paid in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 for the three months ended July 31, 2018.

For a discussion of considerations related to distributions by Ferrellgas Partners, including the requirements for and limitations on distributions under our partnership agreements and the agreements governing our indebtedness, see Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources – Financing Activities – Distributions.”

Recent Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities

There were none during fiscal 2021, other than (i) the issuance by Ferrellgas Partners of the Class B Units to the holders of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes and (ii) the issuance and sale by the operating partnership of the Preferred Units, each as previously disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K and described elsewhere herein.

Purchases of Equity Securities

There were none during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

Ferrellgas Partners Tax Matters

Ferrellgas Partners is a master limited partnership and thus not subject to federal income taxes. Instead, our Class A Unitholders are required to report for income tax purposes their allocable share of our income, gains, losses, deductions and credits, regardless of whether we make distributions to our Class A Unitholders. Accordingly, each Class A Unitholder should consult its own tax advisor in analyzing the federal, state, and local tax consequences applicable to its ownership or disposition of our Class A Units. Ferrellgas Partners reports its tax information on a calendar year basis, while financial reporting is based on a fiscal year ending July 31.

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Common Equity of Other Registrants

There is no established public trading market for the common equity of the operating partnership, Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. or Ferrellgas Finance Corp. Our general partner owns all of the general partner interest, and Ferrellgas Partners owns all of the limited partner interest (other than the limited partner interests represented by the Preferred Units), in the operating partnership. All of the common equity of Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. is held by Ferrellgas Partners and all of the common equity of Ferrellgas Finance Corp. is held by the operating partnership. There are no equity securities of the operating partnership, Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. or Ferrellgas Finance Corp. authorized for issuance under any equity compensation plan. During fiscal 2021, there were no issuances of equity securities of the operating partnership, Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. or Ferrellgas Finance Corp., other than the issuance of the Preferred Units by the operating partnership.

Neither Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. nor Ferrellgas Finance Corp. declared or paid any cash dividends on its common equity during fiscal 2021 or fiscal 2020. For information regarding distributions by the operating partnership to its partners see Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources – Financing Activities – Distributions” and Note J. – Preferred Units and Note K. – Equity – in the notes to the operating partnership’s consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

None.

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ITEM 7.       MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

Overview

Our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations relates to Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership.

Ferrellgas Partners is a holding entity that conducts no operations and has two direct subsidiaries, Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. and the operating partnership. Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. and Ferrellgas Finance Corp. have nominal assets, do not conduct any operations and have no employees other than officers. Our activities are primarily conducted through the operating partnership. Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. has served as co-issuer and co-obligor for debt securities of Ferrellgas Partners, while Ferrellgas Finance Corp., a subsidiary of the operating partnership, serves as co-issuer and co-obligor for debt securities of the operating partnership. Accordingly, and due to the reduced disclosure format, a discussion of the results of operations, liquidity and capital resources of Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. and Ferrellgas Finance Corp. is not presented in this section.

The following is a discussion of our historical financial condition and results of operations and should be read in conjunction with our audited historical consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The discussions set forth in the “Results of Operations” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources” sections generally refer to Ferrellgas Partners and its consolidated subsidiaries. However, in these discussions there exists two material differences between Ferrellgas Partners and the operating partnership:

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Recent Developments

COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has been declared by the World Health Organization as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” continues to impact the economy of the United States and other countries around the world. COVID-19 poses the risk that we or our employees, contractors, suppliers, customers and other business partners may be prevented from or limited in conducting business activities for an indefinite period of time. The outbreak of COVID-19 has already resulted in significant governmental measures being implemented to control the spread of the virus, including quarantines, travel restrictions, manufacturing restrictions, declarations of national emergency and states of emergency, business shutdowns and restrictions on the movement of people throughout the United States and the world. While some of our business operations and support systems are deemed essential in many jurisdictions, we are continuing to assess the impact that COVID-19 may have on our results of operations and financial condition and cannot at this time accurately predict what effects these conditions will have on our operations and sales due to uncertainties relating to the ultimate geographic spread of the virus, the severity of the disease, the duration of the outbreak and the length of the travel restrictions and business closures imposed by governments in different jurisdictions. Additionally, initiatives we have implemented or may implement to slow and/or reduce the impact of COVID-19, such as using staggered start times for drivers, may increase our operating expenses and reduce the efficiency of our operations.

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cases

As previously reported on January 11, 2021, Ferrellgas Partners and Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. filed voluntary petitions for relief under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”). The chapter 11 cases were jointly administered under the caption and case numbers, In re: Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. and Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp., Chapter 11 Case Nos. 21-10020 and 21-10021.

On March 5, 2021, the Bankruptcy Court entered an order (the “Confirmation Order”) confirming the Second Amended Prepackaged Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization of Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. and Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. (the “Plan”).

On March 30, 2021 (the “Effective Date”), the conditions to effectiveness of the Plan were satisfied and the Confirmation Order was deemed binding upon Ferrellgas Partners, Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. and all other parties affected by the Plan. In satisfying the conditions of the Plan, on the Effective Date, certain restructuring transactions by Ferrellgas Partners and certain financing transactions by the operating partnership were completed, as further described under “–Transactions” below.

Ferrellgas has accounted for the effects of the reorganization and determined that fresh-start accounting does not need to be applied, as a change in control did not occur.

Transactions

Satisfaction of Ferrellgas Partners Notes; Issuance of Class B Units to Holders of Ferrellgas Partners Notes

On the Effective Date, by operation of the Plan, all outstanding indebtedness (including accrued interest) of Ferrellgas Partners and Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp. under their $357.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes were discharged and cancelled.

Pursuant to the Plan, Ferrellgas Partners issued an aggregate of 1.3 million Class B Units to holders of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes in satisfaction of their claims in respect of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes. For additional discussion, see Note K – Equity in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

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Issuance of Preferred Units of the Operating Partnership

On the Effective Date, the operating partnership and the general partner (in its capacity as the general partner of operating partnership) entered into an Investment Agreement (the “Investment Agreement”) with certain purchasers named therein, pursuant to which, on the Effective Date, the operating partnership issued and sold to such purchasers an aggregate of 700,000 Senior Preferred Units, having an aggregate initial liquidation preference of $700.0 million. The purchase price per Preferred Unit was $1,000 less a 3.0% purchase price discount, for an aggregate purchase price of $679.0 million.

The operating partnership received net proceeds from the issuance and sale of the Preferred Units of approximately $651.3 million, after deducting the purchase price discount and certain expenses. The operating partnership used such net proceeds, together with the net proceeds of the issuance and sale of the OpCo Notes (as defined and described below) and cash on hand, (i) to redeem (or satisfy and discharge and subsequently redeem) all of the operating partnership’s previously issued and outstanding senior notes, as described below, and (ii) to repay all outstanding obligations under the operating partnership’s then-existing accounts receivable securitization facility in connection with the termination of that facility, as described below. For additional discussion, see Note J – Preferred units in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

Issuance of Senior Unsecured Notes of the Operating Partnership

On the Effective Date, two wholly-owned subsidiaries of the operating partnership (the “Escrow Issuers”) issued $650.0 million aggregate principal amount of 5.375% senior notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) and $825.0 million aggregate principal amount of 5.875% senior notes due 2029 (the “2029 Notes” and, together with the 2026 Notes, the “OpCo Notes”), in each case, at an offering price equal to 100% of the principal amount thereof. On the Effective Date and immediately after the issuance of the 2026 Notes and the 2029 Notes by the Escrow Issuers, (i) the Escrow Issuers were merged into the operating partnership and Ferrellgas Finance Corp., respectively, and the operating partnership and Ferrellgas Finance Corp. assumed the obligations of the Escrow Issuers as co-issuers of the 2026 Notes and the 2029 Notes, and (ii) the general partner and certain subsidiaries of the operating partnership guaranteed the 2026 Notes and the 2029 Notes.

The operating partnership received aggregate net proceeds from the issuance and sale of the 2026 Notes and the 2029 Notes of approximately $1,441.2 million, after deducting the initial purchasers’ discount and offering expenses. The operating partnership used such net proceeds, together with the net proceeds of the issuance and sale of the Preferred Units and cash on hand, (i) to redeem (or satisfy and discharge the indentures governing and subsequently redeem) all of the operating partnership’s previously issued and outstanding senior notes, as described below, and (ii) to repay all outstanding obligations under the operating partnership’s then-existing accounts receivable securitization facility in connection with the termination of that facility, as described below. For additional discussion, see Note I – Debt in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

Redemption of Previously Issued Senior Notes of the Operating Partnership

Prior to the Effective Date, the operating partnership delivered notices of redemption of all its previously issued and outstanding 10.00% senior secured notes due 2025 (the “2025 Notes”), 6.50% senior unsecured notes due 2021 (the “2021 Notes”), 6.75% senior unsecured notes due 2022 (the “2022 Notes”) and 6.75% senior unsecured notes due 2023 (the “2023 Notes”), in the aggregate combined principal amount for all such notes of $2,175.0 million, pursuant the terms of the indentures governing those notes, with a redemption date of March 30, 2021 for the 2025 Notes and April 5, 2021 for the 2021 Notes, the 2022 Notes and the 2023 Notes.

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On the Effective Date, the operating partnership redeemed all of the issued and outstanding 2025 Notes. Also on the Effective Date, the operating partnership (i) satisfied and discharged the indentures governing the 2021 Notes, the 2022 Notes and the 2023 Notes by irrevocably depositing with the applicable trustees under such indentures funds in an amount sufficient to pay the redemption price for all of such notes on April 5, 2021 and (ii) delivered irrevocable instructions directing the applicable trustees to apply such funds to the redemption of such notes on April 5, 2021. As a result, as of the Effective Date, the indentures governing the 2021 Notes, the 2022 Notes and the 2023 Notes ceased to be of further effect (except as to certain expressly surviving rights), and all of the issued and outstanding 2021 Notes, 2022 Notes and 2023 Notes were redeemed on April 5, 2021.

The aggregate redemption price for the 2021 Notes, the 2022 Notes, the 2023 Notes and the 2025 Notes was approximately $2,320.9 million, consisting of principal, redemption premium (in the case of the 2023 Notes and the 2025 Notes) and accrued and unpaid interest to the applicable redemption date. For additional discussion, see Note I – Debt in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

Credit Agreement

On the Effective Date, the operating partnership, the general partner and certain of the operating partnership’s subsidiaries entered into a credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”), which provides for a four-year revolving credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) in an aggregate principal amount of up to $350.0 million, including a sublimit not to exceed $225.0 million for the issuance of letters of credit for a period of 60 days after March 30, 2021, reducing to $200.0 million thereafter. For additional discussion, see Note I – Debt in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

Termination of Accounts Receivable Securitization Facility

On the Effective Date, the operating partnership and its receivables subsidiary repaid all of the outstanding obligations and fees under the then-existing accounts receivable securitization facility and terminated that facility. For additional discussion, see Note G – Accounts and notes receivable, net in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

Amended Partnership Agreements of Ferrellgas Partners and the Operating Partnership

On the Effective Date, the general partner executed the Sixth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. (the “Amended Ferrellgas Partners LPA”), which amended and restated in its entirety the Fifth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. Among other matters, the Amended Ferrellgas Partners LPA provided for the restructuring of Ferrellgas Partners in accordance with the Plan, including (i) effecting a reverse unit split of Ferrellgas Partners’ then-outstanding common units pursuant to which the holders of the common units received one Class A Unit for every twenty common units held, and (ii) providing for the issuance of Class B Units to the holders of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes in exchange for such holders’ contribution of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes as a capital contribution to Ferrellgas Partners and in satisfaction of such holders’ claims in respect of the Ferrellgas Partners Notes. For additional information, see Note K – Equity in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

Also on the Effective Date, the general partner executed (i) the Fifth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Ferrellgas, L.P. (the “Amended OpCo LPA”), which amended and restated in its entirety the Fourth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Ferrellgas L.P., and (ii) a First Amendment to the Amended OpCo LPA (the “OpCo LPA Amendment”), which sets forth the preferences, rights, privileges and other terms of the Preferred Units.

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Termination of Bridger Agreement with Jamex Marketing, LLC

In connection with the closing of our acquisition of Bridger in June 2015, Bridger entered into a ten-year transportation and logistics agreement (the “Jamex TLA”) with Jamex Marketing, LLC (“Jamex”) pursuant to which Jamex would be responsible for certain payments to Bridger and also for sourcing crude oil volumes for Bridger’s largest customer at that time. On September 1, 2016, Bridger, Jamex, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. and certain other affiliated parties entered into a group of agreements that terminated the Jamex TLA, as summarized below.

On September 1, 2016, we entered into a Secured Promissory Note with Jamex (the “Jamex Secured Promissory Note”) pursuant to which Jamex agreed to pay us a principal amount of $49.5 million plus interest, which principal amount was due over time pursuant to an amortization schedule and with a final maturity date of December 17, 2021. Jamex’s obligations under the Jamex Secured Promissory Note were fully guaranteed by certain subsidiaries and affiliates of Jamex, and were partially guaranteed (up to a maximum of $20 million) by James Ballengee, the individual owner of Jamex, and another entity owned by Mr. Ballengee. The Jamex Secured Promissory Note obligations of Jamex and those other fully guaranteeing entities were secured by certain assets owned by those entities, actively traded marketable securities and cash, which were held in a controlled account and were subject to seizure by us in the event of default. The operating partnership also agreed to provide Jamex with a $5.0 million revolving secured working capital facility evidenced by a revolving promissory note (the “Jamex Revolving Promissory Note”).

On June 25, 2018, Ferrellgas and Mr. Ballengee entered into an Omnibus Agreement (the “Omnibus Agreement”) that, among other things, terminated and cancelled the Jamex Secured Promissory Note, the joint guarantee, and the Jamex Revolving Promissory Note. In connection with the termination and cancellation of such agreements, (1) Mr. Ballengee and Jamex paid Ferrellgas $16.3 million towards the remaining balance due under the Jamex Secured Promissory Note and Mr. Ballengee executed a new unsecured promissory note in favor of the operating partnership with an original principal amount of $18.3 million (the “Revised Jamex Promissory Note”), (2) Bacchus, a company controlled by Mr. Ballengee, executed a guaranty agreement to guarantee Mr. Ballengee’s obligations under the Revised Jamex Promissory Note, (3) Ferrellgas agreed to dismiss without prejudice certain indemnification claims against Jamex and any affiliates of Jamex related to the Eddystone litigation and to toll the statute of limitations with respect thereto, and to dismiss with prejudice the tortious interference claim asserted by Ferrellgas against Mr. Ballengee related to the Eddystone litigation, and (4) Mr. Ballengee agreed to dismiss with prejudice, or cause to be dismissed, all counterclaims by him or his affiliates, as the case may be, with respect to such actions.

On July 1, 2020, Mr. Ballengee defaulted on the Revised Jamex Promissory Note by failing to make the first payment in the amount of $2.5 million. As a result, as of July 31, 2020, Ferrellgas recorded a bad debt reserve against $17.3 million of the Revised Jamex Promissory Note and is pursuing collections from Mr. Ballengee.

On January 27, 2021 we reached an agreement with Mr. Ballengee pursuant to which he would execute an additional promissory note for $2.5 million secured by his assets, separate from the Revised Jamex Promissory Note, and pay $1.5 million in cash to us. The $1.5 million cash payment was received on February 1, 2021. In light of these developments, we released $0.5 million of reserve in our second fiscal quarter. We deemed it appropriate to keep the $2.5 million additional promissory note fully reserved.

How We Evaluate Our Operations

We evaluate our overall business performance based primarily on a metric we refer to as “Adjusted EBITDA”, which is not defined by GAAP and should not be considered an alternative to earnings measures defined by GAAP. We do not utilize depreciation, depletion and amortization expense in our key measures because we focus our performance management on cash flow generation and our revenue generating assets have long useful lives. For the definition of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net loss attributable to Ferrellgas Partners, L.P., the most directly comparable GAAP measure, see the subheading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

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Propane operations and related equipment sales

Based on our propane sales volumes in fiscal 2021, we believe that we are the second largest retail marketer of propane in the United States and a leading national provider of propane by portable tank exchange. We serve residential, industrial/commercial, portable tank exchange, agricultural, wholesale and other customers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Our operations primarily include the retail distribution and sale of propane and related equipment and supplies with concentrations in the Midwest, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest regions of the United States.

We use information on temperatures to understand how our results of operations are affected by temperatures that are warmer or colder than normal. Normal temperatures computed by us are the average of the last 10 years of information published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Based on this information we calculate a ratio of actual heating degree days to normal heating degree days. Heating degree days are a general indicator of weather impacting propane usage.

Weather conditions have a significant impact on demand for propane for heating purposes primarily during the months of November through March (the “winter heating season”). Accordingly, the volume of propane used by our customers for this purpose is directly affected by the severity of the winter weather in the regions we serve and can vary substantially from year to year. In any given region, sustained warmer-than-normal temperatures will tend to result in reduced propane usage, while sustained colder-than-normal temperatures will tend to result in greater usage. Although there is a strong correlation between weather and customer usage, general economic conditions in the United States and the wholesale price of propane can have a significant impact on this correlation. Additionally, there is a natural time lag between the onset of cold weather and increased sales to customers. If the United States were to experience a cooling trend, we could expect nationwide demand for propane to increase which could lead to greater sales, income and liquidity availability. Conversely, if the United States were to experience a continued warming trend, we could expect nationwide demand for propane for heating purposes to decrease which could lead to a reduction in our sales, income and liquidity availability as well as impact our ability to maintain compliance with our debt covenants.

We employ risk management activities that attempt to mitigate price risks related to the purchase, storage, transport and sale of propane generally in the contract and spot markets from major domestic energy companies. We attempt to mitigate these price risks through the use of financial derivative instruments and forward propane purchase and sales contracts. We enter into propane sales commitments with a portion of our customers that provide for a contracted price agreement for a specified period of time. These commitments can expose us to product price risk if not immediately hedged with an offsetting propane purchase commitment.

Our open financial derivative propane purchase commitments are designated as hedges primarily for fiscal 2021 and 2022 sales commitments and, as of July 31, 2021, we have experienced net mark-to-market gains of approximately $89.8 million. Because these financial derivative purchase commitments qualify for hedge accounting treatment, the resulting asset, liability and related mark-to-market gains or losses are recorded on the consolidated balance sheets as “Prepaid expenses and other current assets,” "Other assets, net," “Other current liabilities,” "Other liabilities" and “Accumulated other comprehensive loss,” respectively, until settled. Upon settlement, realized gains or losses on these contracts will be reclassified to “Cost of sales-propane and other gas liquid sales” in the consolidated statements of operations as the underlying inventory is sold. These financial derivative purchase commitment net losses are expected to be offset by increased margins on propane sales commitments that qualify for the normal purchase normal sale exception. At July 31, 2021, we estimate 4% of currently open financial derivative purchase commitments, the related propane sales commitments and the resulting gross margin will be realized into earnings during the next twelve months.

Summary Discussion of Results of Operations:

For the years ended July 31, 2021 and 2020

Weather in the more highly concentrated geographic areas we serve for fiscal 2021 was approximately 1% warmer than normal, and 3% colder than fiscal 2020.

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During fiscal 2021, we recognized net loss attributable to Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. of $68.4 million, compared to net loss attributable to Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. of $82.5 million during fiscal 2020. This decreased loss reflects a $67.4 million increase in “Loss on extinguishment of debt”, a $14.3 million increase in “General and administrative expense” and $10.4 million of “Reorganization expense – professional fees” incurred only in fiscal 2021, partially offset by a $44.2 million increase in “Gross margin – Propane and other gas liquid sales”, a $27.2 million decrease in “Operating expenses – personnel, vehicle, plant and other” and $19.3 million decrease in “Interest expense”. “General and administrative expense” reflects the effects of legal fees and settlement related to non-core businesses of $10.1 million and $7.3 million during fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively.

“Interest expense” for Ferrellgas Partners decreased $19.3 million primarily due (i) a decrease in interest on the Ferrellgas Partners Notes and (ii) lower interest expense for the last 4 months of the year ended July 31, 2021 as a result of the March 30, 2021 refinancing transactions, partially offset by an increase in interest expense resulting from the April 2020 transactions.

Distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors increased to $135.7 million in fiscal 2021 compared to $63.7 million in fiscal 2020, primarily due to a $52.6 million increase in our Adjusted EBITDA and $22.1 million decrease in cash interest expense.

Distributable cash flow excess increased to $111.2 million in fiscal 2021 as compared to $62.4 million in fiscal 2020, primarily due to a $52.6 million increase in our Adjusted EBITDA, and $22.1 million decrease in cash interest expense, partially offset by a $24.0 million increase in distributions paid or accrued to preferred unitholders.

Consolidated Results of Operations

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Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In this Annual Report we present the following non-GAAP financial measures: Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors, Distributable cash flow attributable to Class A and B Unitholders, and Distributable cash flow excess.

Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA for Ferrellgas Partners is calculated as net loss attributable to Ferrellgas Partners, L.P., plus the sum of the following: income tax expense, interest expense, depreciation and amortization expense, non-cash employee stock ownership plan compensation charge, loss on extinguishment of debt, loss on asset sales and disposals, other income (expense), net, reorganization expense – professional fees, severance costs, legal fees and settlements related to non-core businesses, provision for doubtful accounts related to non-core businesses, lease accounting standard adjustment and other and net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest. Management believes the presentation of this measure is relevant and useful because it allows investors to view the partnership’s performance in a manner similar to the method management uses, adjusted for items management believes make it easier to compare its results with other companies that have different financing and capital structures. Adjusted EBITDA, as management defines it, may not be comparable to Adjusted EBITDA or similarly titled measurements used by other companies. Items added into our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA that will not occur on a continuing basis may have associated cash payments. This method of calculating Adjusted EBITDA should be viewed in conjunction with measurements that are computed in accordance with GAAP.

Distributable Cash Flow Attributable to Equity Investors. Distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors is calculated as Adjusted EBITDA minus net cash interest expense, maintenance capital expenditures and cash paid for income taxes, plus proceeds from certain asset sales. Management considers distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors a meaningful measure of Ferrellgas’ ability to declare and pay quarterly distributions to equity investors, including holders of the operating partnership’s Preferred Units. Distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors, as management defines it, may not be comparable to distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors or similarly titled measurements used by other companies. Items added into our calculation of distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors that will not occur on a continuing basis may have associated cash payments. Distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors should be viewed in conjunction with measurements that are computed in accordance with GAAP.

Distributable Cash Flow Attributable to Class A and B Unitholders. Distributable cash flow attributable to Class A and B Unitholders is calculated as Distributable cash flow attributable to equity investors minus distributions accrued or paid to Preferred Unitholders and distributable cash flow attributable to general partner and noncontrolling interest. Management considers Distributable cash flow attributable to Class A and B Unitholders a meaningful measure of the partnership’s ability to declare and pay quarterly distributions to Class A and B Unitholders. Distributable cash flow attributable to Class A and B Unitholders, as management defines it, may not be comparable to similarly titled measurements used by other companies. Items added into our calculation of distributable cash flow attributable to Class A and B Unitholders that will not occur on a continuing basis may have associated cash payments. Distributable cash flow attributable to Class A and B Unitholders should be viewed in conjunction with measurements that are computed in accordance with GAAP.

Distributable Cash Flow Excess. Distributable cash flow excess is calculated as Distributable cash flow attributable to Class A and B unitholders minus Distributions paid to Class A and B unitholders. Distributable cash flow excess, if any, is retained to establish reserves, to reduce debt, to fund capital expenditures and for other partnership purposes, and any shortage is funded from previously established reserves, cash on hand or borrowings under our Credit Facility or, previously, under our terminated accounts receivable securitization facility. Management considers Distributable cash flow excess a meaningful measure of the partnership’s ability to effectuate those purposes. Distributable cash flow excess, as management defines it, may not be comparable to distributable cash flow excess or similarly titled measurements used by other companies. Items added into our calculation of distributable cash flow excess that will not occur on a continuing basis may have associated cash payments. Distributable cash flow excess should be viewed in conjunction with measurements that are computed in accordance with GAAP.

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